


Mass Effect: Marley Shepard's Story Pt. 1

by Lavender_Diamond



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-14 08:42:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3404306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavender_Diamond/pseuds/Lavender_Diamond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Commander Marley Shepard was willing to accept it if the Council rejected her as a Spectre, until Saren Arterius' interference on Eden Prime changed her mind...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Belanna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Belanna/gifts).



“Arcturus Prime relay is in range. Initiating transmission sequence,” came Joker’s voice over the intercom system, and I headed for the bridge. I loved being on the bridge when we hit the relays, it always gave me a feeling of freedom and adventure when I felt the relay thrusters kick in. It didn’t matter how many times we did it, I enjoyed it every time. “We are connected. Calculating transit mass and destination.” I sped up and smiled when I saw that Nihlus was already there, and I guess he heard my steps because he turned and smiled back. “The relay is hot. Acquiring an approach vector.”

“The board is green. Approach run has begun.”

“Hitting the relay in 3… 2… 1.” Joker’s final announcement came, we hit the relay and shot forward. I love this job. Watching star systems materialize and come into focus out of the blue of mass effect never gets old for me. “Thrusters… check. Navigation… check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift… just under 1500 k,” Joker said proudly. Another thing on the list of things that never ceases to amaze me, Joker’s accuracy on the relays is second to none. Nihlus was apparently impressed too. “1500 is good,” he told Joker, “Your captain will be pleased.” We exchanged another smile and he headed back down the bridge toward the rear of the ship. “I hate that guy,” Joker muttered as soon as Nihlus was out of earshot. Ouch.

“Nihlus gave you a compliment,” Kaidan informed him, then he teased, “So, you hate him?”

“You remember to zip up your jumpsuit on the way out of the bathroom? That’s good,” Joker retorted, “I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead, so that’s incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble; I don’t like having him on board. Call me paranoid.”

“You’re paranoid,” Kaidan replied without hesitation, “The Council helped fund this project, they have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment.”

“Yeah, that is the official story,” Joker said, “But only an idiot believes the official story.”

“You always expect the worst,” I teased our pilot.

“Well bad feelings are an occupational hazard,” Joker said, “We don’t go anywhere unless there’s a good reason, so what are we doing here?”

“I don’t have all the details, but I do know that part of why Nihlus is here is to see how well the ship works, so it really is a shakedown,” I said, “Otherwise, I’m not the one to ask. Give the guy a chance though, Joker, he doesn’t bite.”

“You don’t seriously trust him, do you, Commander?” Joker asked.

“Joker! Status report,” Captain Anderson said over the intercom, interrupting the discussion.

“Just cleared the mass relay Captain,” Joker answered, “Stealth systems engaged. Everything looks solid.”

“Good,” Anderson said, “Find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Joker said, then added, “Better brace yourself, sir, I think Nihlus is headed your way.”

“He’s already here, Lieutenant,” Anderson said, sounding irritated. Kaidan and I both shook our heads, while Kaidan smirked a little at Joker. “Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm room for a debriefing,” Captain Anderson barked.

“You get that, Commander?” Joker asked.

“He sounds angry,” I nodded, “Something must have gone wrong with the mission…”

“Pff. Captain always sounds like that when he’s talking to me,” Joker said.

“I can’t possibly imagine why,” Kaidan teased him as I walked away. Oh boy. When those two got together, sometimes I felt like I was raising children. Kaidan was usually the more grown up of the two, but they could both be boys at times. I had to admit, Captain Anderson’s tone worried me a little. I had thought the only surprise would be Nihlus joining us for the mission and telling me that he hoped to recruit me as a Spectre, but now it seemed like there was more to it than just that. “I’m telling you, I just saw him! He marched by like he was on a mission,” Navigator Pressly’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

“He’s a Spectre,” Engineer Adams said dismissively over the intercom, “They’re always on a mission.”

“And we’re getting dragged right along with him!” Pressly grumped back.

“Relax, Pressly,” Adams said, “You’re going to give yourself an ulcer.” Pressly ended the conversation as I approached and we exchanged a salute. “Congratulations, Commander,” he said, “Looks like we’ve had a smooth run. You heading down to see the captain?”

“I’m on my way to give him a status update right now,” I said.

“With all due respect, ma’am, maybe he’ll finally tell you what we’re really doing out here,” Pressly said.

“You think Alliance Brass is holding out on us?” I asked. It wouldn’t be the first time, but I wasn’t actually allowed to admit that. “If all we’re supposed to do is test out the stealth systems, why is Captain Anderson in charge?” Pressly asked, “And then there’s Nihlus. Spectres are elite operatives, top covert agents. Why send a Spectre—a Turian Spectre—on a shakedown run? It doesn’t add up.”

“You don’t trust Nihlus, do you?” I stated more than asked.

“I don’t like turians in general, runs in my family,” Pressly informed me, “My grandfather fought in the First Contact War; lost a lot of friends when the turians hit us.”

“That was over thirty years ago,” I said quietly, “You can’t blame Nihlus for that.”

“No, I guess not,” Pressly conceded, “But it still makes me nervous to have a Spectre on board, especially a turian. We’re an Alliance vessel, human military. But Nihlus doesn’t answer to the captain like the rest of us. Spectres operate outside the normal chain of command and they don’t come along to observe shakedown runs. Nihlus looks like he’s expecting some heavy action. I don’t like it.”

“Whether he answers to the captain or not, he still has rules,” I gently reminded Pressly, then I laughed, “As for the firepower, I think he’d be lost without it. I’ve never seen a Spectre carry around less and most carry more. I will see if I can get some answers out of Captain Anderson when I see him though.”

“Good luck, Commander,” Pressly said. We exchanged another salute and I headed on back toward the comm room. I would sure be happy when this business was all over. As exciting as the thought of Nihlus being on my ship initially was, it was also really hard not to actively defend him when any of the crew expressed their displeasure with his presence. It would be a relief when these missions like this were all over and I was either a Spectre or the Council had rejected me. I didn’t like having to pretend I didn’t know what was going on, and it was even worse that I had to pretend I didn’t know Nihlus. Using one’s omni-tool to send messages isn’t the same as spending a night together. I missed him. “I grew up on Eden Prime, Doc,” Corporal Jenkins was saying as I approached him and Dr. Chakwas, “It’s not the kind of place Spectres visit. There’s something Nihlus isn’t telling us about this mission.”

“That’s crazy,” Dr. Chakwas said, “The captain’s in charge here, he wouldn’t take orders from a Spectre.”

“Not his choice, Doc,” Jenkins replied, “Spectres don’t answer to anyone. They can do whatever they want, kill anyone who gets in their way.”

“You watch too many spy vids, Jenkins,” Dr. Chakwas laughed.

“What do you think, Commander?” Jenkins ambushed me as I started to go around them, “We won’t be staying on Eden Prime too long, will we? I’m itching for some real action!”

“I sincerely hope you’re kidding, Corporal,” Dr. Chakwas scolded him, “Your ‘real action’ usually ends with me patching up crew members in the infirmary.”

“Only a fool goes looking for a fight, Corporal,” I told him gently, backing the doctor up.

“Sorry, Commander,” Jenkins said, “But this waiting’s killing me. I’ve never been on a mission like this before, not one with a Spectre on board!”

“Excited much, Corporal?” I asked with a laugh.

“Yeah, a little bit I guess, Commander,” he said, looking embarrassed, “How many other human crews can say they’ve been on a mission with a real Spectre? And I heard Nihlus once took down an entire enemy platoon all by himself, like you in the Blitz! Hey, maybe that’s why he’s here, you’d make a great Spectre, Commander.”

“This is all just wild speculation,” Dr. Chakwas objected, “The Spectres aren’t interested in recruiting humans, no matter how capable.”

“Well, maybe I’ll find out from the captain,” I said, “And I should probably go, I’m keeping him waiting.”

“Goodbye, Commander,” Dr. Chakwas said while I headed on into the comm room and I walked in to see Nihlus standing there staring up at the visual transmission screen, apparently lost in his thoughts. When I came in though he turned and smiled, and this time the smile was obvious. “Hey Marley,” he said, “I’m glad you got here first. Somehow I managed to forget that your human military has enough regs to sink the Ascension.”

“Yeah, me too,” I said, “I’m sorry Nihlus… When this mission is over I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

“No need to explain, Marley,” he said, gently pulling me in for a quick kiss, “I might complain, but I understand. Anyway, I was hoping we would have a few minutes to talk.”

“What’s up Nihlus?” I asked.

“I’m interested in your world, Eden Prime,” he said, “I hear it’s quite beautiful.”

“Well, I’ve never been there myself, but I’ve been told it’s a paradise,” I told him.

“Yes,” he said quietly, but it sounded like his mind was somewhere else as he continued, “Serene. Tranquil. Safe. Eden Prime is something of a symbol for your people, isn’t it? Proof that humanity can not only establish new colonies across the galaxy but also protect them. But how safe is it, really?”

“You’re worried,” I said quietly.

“The galaxy can be a very dangerous and even unfriendly place, Marley,” he said, then he stopped pacing to turn around and look at me as he asked, “Is the Alliance truly ready for this responsibility?”

“I think it’s about time we told the Commander what’s really going on,” Captain Anderson said as he walked into the room. Time to be professional again… “This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run,” Nihlus said.

“I figured as much,” I replied.

“We’re making a covert pickup on Eden Prime,” Captain Anderson said, “That’s why we needed the stealth systems operational.”

“When I spoke with Engineer Adams this morning he said they were working at top efficiency and there’s no overheating,” I said, “What’s the package?”

“A research team on Eden Prime unearthed some kind of beacon during an excavation,” Captain Anderson explained, “It was Prothean.”

“Do we know what’s in it yet, or what it’s for?” I asked.

“No, but the last time humanity made a discovery like this, it jumped our technology forward 200 years,” David said, “The problem is, Eden Prime doesn’t have the facilities to handle something like this. We need to bring the beacon back to the Citadel for proper study.”

“Obviously this goes beyond mere human interests, Commander,” Nihlus said, “This discovery could affect every species in Council space.”

“Never hurts to have some extra help,” I said.

“The beacon isn’t the only reason I’m here,” Nihlus said, coming over to stand closer to Captain Anderson and me.

“Nihlus wants to see you in action, Commander,” Captain Anderson said, “He’s here to evaluate you.”

“Well that explains why he’s right there every time I turn around,” I joked and I noticed that Nihlus smiled slightly himself at the statement.

“The Alliance has been pushing for this for a long time,” Captain Anderson said, “Humanity wants a larger role in shaping interstellar policy. We want more say with the Citadel Council. The Spectres represent the Council’s power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come.”

“You held off an enemy assault during the Blitz single-handed,” Nihlus was quick to remind me, having already heard all my objections when he first told me about this idea, “You showed not only courage, but also incredible skill. That’s why I put your name forward as a candidate for the Spectres.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?” I asked. I still thought it was a crazy idea, but I wasn’t going to say so now. Who knows, it might even work, I had already learned that betting against Nihlus is a good way to lose. Not that such losing is always a bad thing mind you. “I need to see your skills for myself, Commander,” Nihlus said, “Eden Prime will be the first of several missions together.”

“You’ll be in charge of the ground team,” Captain Anderson said, “Secure the beacon and get it onto the ship ASAP. Nihlus will accompany you to observe the mission.”

“Are we expecting trouble of some kind?” I asked. Being in the Traverse I figured it would be a good idea to ask.

“That’s where the stealth systems come in,” Captain Anderson said, “There are plenty of raiders active in the region, and we’re right on the borders of the Terminus Systems.”

“The Attican Traverse is under Citadel protection,” I said, “If the Terminus Systems attack it’s an act of war.”

“Technically, yes,” Nihlus said, “But some of the species in the Terminus might be willing to start a war over this.”

“The last thing the Council wants is to be dragged into a conflict with the Terminus Systems,” Captain Anderson said, “We have to keep this low key.” Well, I could do that. I have an aversion to getting shot anyway, it tends to do a lot of damage to one’s parts and it hurts like a bitch. “Just give the word, Captain,” I said.

“We should be getting close to Eden—”

“Captain! We’ve got a problem,” Joker said over the intercom.

“What’s wrong, Joker?” Anderson asked.

“Transmission from Eden Prime, Sir,” Joker said, “You better see this!”

“Bring it up on screen,” Anderson said. The three of us watched in absolute silence while the transmission played. So far as we’d known, no one but us had any idea the beacon was there, and now we could only hope that this was still the case. Well, Nihlus was going to get a look at what I could do in combat anyway, although I wasn’t too thrilled with the prospect. It’s one thing to go into a war zone where it’s only soldiers and marines on the field dead and dying, but it’s quite another when civilians are thrown into the mix. “Everything cuts out after that,” Joker said when it ended, “No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There’s nothing.”

“Reverse and hold at 38.5,” Captain Anderson ordered, then he stood there staring at the image for a few seconds before ordering a status report.

“Seventeen minutes out, Captain,” Joker reported, “No other Alliance ships in the area.”

“Take us in, Joker, fast and quiet,” Anderson ordered, “This mission just got a lot more complicated.”

“A small strike team can move quickly without drawing attention. It’s our best chance to secure the beacon,” Nihlus said as he headed for the door.

“Grab your gear and meet us in the cargo hold,” Anderson called after him, then he turned to me, “Tell Alenko and Jenkins to suit up, Commander, you’re going in.” I nodded and took off at a run, I wanted to have a minute with Nihlus before we dropped in on the action. “Nihlus hold up a second,” I said.

“Marley, what is it?” he asked, putting his arms around me and holding me tight for a few seconds and I pulled him down to my level and kissed him.

“Be careful, Nihlus, I mean it,” I said softly.

“You too, Marley,” he said.

“I promise,” I said. We split up and I went and rounded up Kaidan and Jenkins, then we grabbed our gear and headed down. It didn’t take us more than ten minutes to get suited up and ready and by the time the last of the 15 minutes had passed we were all in the cargo hold and waiting to make planet-fall. “Engaging stealth systems,” Joker said over the comm, “Somebody was doing some serious digging here, Captain.”

“Your team’s the muscle in this operation, Commander,” Captain Anderson said, “Go in heavy and head straight for the dig site.”

“What about survivors, Captain?” Kaidan asked.

“Helping survivors is a secondary objective,” Anderson replied, “The beacon’s your top priority.”

“Approaching drop point one,” Joker called.

“Nihlus?” Jenkins asked in surprise as Nihlus came walking down the bay, “You’re coming with us?”

“I move faster on my own,” Nihlus told him, checking his assault rifle then dropping out the ship.

“Nihlus will scout out ahead,” Anderson told us, “He’ll feed you status reports throughout the mission: otherwise, I want radio silence.”

“We’ve got his back, Captain,” I said.

“The mission’s yours now, Shepard,” Anderson said, “Good luck.”

“We are approaching drop point 2,” Joker called. The ship hovered for a few seconds and Kaidan, Jenkins and I dropped to the planet’s surface. “Ship perimeter secure, Commander,” Kaidan informed me. I nodded and we started to head off. “This place got hit hard, Marley,” Nihlus spoke through my headset, “Hostiles everywhere. Keep your guard up.” The quiet was nerve racking and the first time I saw one of the resident floating gas bags out of the corner of my eye I jumped. I also pumped about 10 shots from my pistol into it and it exploded. We had a bit of a laugh about that one, the things were obviously harmless and I felt a little silly. It was still too quiet for my liking and I ordered my team to use every bit of cover we had, but sometimes everything you do just doesn’t matter. Jenkins was making for the next available cover when some attack drones popped up over the next rocky hill and opened fire on him. Kaidan and I made short work of the drones, but Jenkins was already gone. I sighed and bent over my dead marine, gently closing his eyes, then turned to Kaidan as he said softly, “They ripped right through his shields, he never had a chance…”

“We’ll see that he receives a proper service once the mission is complete,” I assured the lieutenant, “But right now I need you to stay focused.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” he said, a bit shaky but he would be alright. We kept going, with only a few minor skirmishes with drones, usually only about two or three at a time. “I’ve got some burned out buildings here, Marley,” Nihlus’ spoke softly into the comm once again, “A lot of bodies. I’m going to check it out. I’ll try to catch up with you at the dig site.” I nodded out of habit even though he couldn’t see me, and Kaidan and I kept going up the hill. As we came to the top we were met with the sight of a marine running across the shallow valley below us, being chased the whole time by a couple of attack drones. The attack drones’ shots impacted on her shields making her stumble. When she saw us she spun around to face them, taking them out while sliding backwards along the ground. We all looked to where some synthetic creatures were holding one of the colonists in place on top of a tall cylinder, and as we watched the cylinder shot out a spike, impaling the man. I tripped over a rock on my way to a bolder and the synthetics noticed us and opened fire. I pulled out my sniper rifle and carefully squeezed off my shots, killing two while Kaidan and the marine finished off the last one, then Kaidan and I made our way down the hill. “Thanks for your help Commander, I didn’t think I was going to make it,” she said as Kaidan and I approached her, “Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, ma’am?”

“Yeah,” I answered, but I was more concerned about whether she was ok, “Are you wounded, Williams?”

“A few scrapes and burns,” Williams said, “Nothing serious. The others weren’t so lucky. Oh man… We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. I’ve been fighting for my life ever since.”

“Where’s the rest of your squad?” I asked her.

“We tried to double back to the beacon, but we walked into an ambush,” she said, “I don’t think any of the others… I think I’m the only one left.”

“This isn’t your fault, Williams,” I told her gently, “You couldn’t have done anything to save them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” she said, “We held our position as long as we could. Until the geth overwhelmed us.”

“The geth haven’t been seen outside the Veil in nearly 200 years,” Kaidan said, “Why are they here now?”

“They must have come for the beacon,” Ashley said, “The dig site is close, just over that rise. It might still be there.”

“We could use your help, Williams,” I said.

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” she said, “It’s time for payback.” Well, I wouldn’t argue with her on that one. I lead the way and we headed up over the rise then down slightly toward the dig site. This was a good place for an ambush, what with all the boulders and pillars standing around haphazardly, so I ordered Kaidan and Chief Williams into cover and took point. I just barely avoided getting shot as I dodged behind the rock I’d just come to and I heard the bullet clip it and whine past my ear. I took out my sniper again and while Kaidan and Ashley took care of the geth soldiers I took care of the destroyer with my sniper. I let them talk between themselves as we walked cautiously onto the stone platform in the middle of the dig site, but their chatter didn’t last very long. “This is the dig site,” Ashley said, her voice full of worry, “The beacon was right here, it must have been moved.”

“By who, our side, or the geth?” Kaidan asked.

“Hard to say,” Ashley answered, “Maybe we’ll know more after we check out the research camp.”

“You think anyone got out of here alive?” I asked.

“If they were lucky,” Ashley said, “Maybe hiding up in the camp. It’s just on the top of this ridge, up the ramps.”

“Change of plans, Marley,” Nihlus said, “There’s a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I’ll wait for you there.” We continued on up the ramps and came to the camp. There were more of those spikes, with bodies hanging off of them, and a lot of debris scattered over the ground. “Looks like they hit the camp hard,” Ashley said.

“It’s a good place for an ambush,” Kaidan cautioned, “Keep your guard up.” His calm didn’t last very long. The spikes retracted into their cylinders and we all got a huge shock. “Oh god!” Kaidan gasped, “They’re still alive!”

“What did the geth do to them?” Ashley asked in horror.

“I don’t know but don’t let them get on top of us,” I told them, realizing a little too late that the one I’d been busily pumping pistol rounds into had decided to rush me and was now starting to overload its circuits. The resulting energy blast depleted my shields by about two thirds, so I knew it was fairly powerful. Ashley opened up with her assault rifle while Kaidan and I supplied supporting fire with our pistols, overloads and biotics. We finally managed to put the colonists out of their misery a few minutes later. Well, if they were even alive when they came off those spikes. After a quick search of the yard turned up a little medi-gel and a few packets of omni-gel, we continued up to the buildings. “That door,” Ashley said suddenly, “It’s closed, security lock’s engaged.” I nodded and walked up to the door and went to work on the panel. I scanned it with my omnitool and then carefully put in the code as the numbers lit up on the key pad, then I carefully cycled open the door. “Humans!” the woman hiding inside sighed in relief, “Thank the maker!”

“Hurry! Close the door! Before they come back!” the man with her was saying as he came to stand beside her.

“Don’t worry, we’ll protect you,” I assured them.

“Thank you, I think we’ll be alright now,” the woman said, “It looks like everyone’s gone…”

“You’re Dr. Warren, the one in charge of the excavation,” Ashley said, “Do you know what happened to the beacon?”

“It was moved to the spaceport this morning,” Dr. Warren said, “Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp. When the attack came, the marines held them off long enough for us to hide. They gave their lives to save us.”

“No one is saved,” Manuel said, “The age of humanity is ended, soon only corpses and ruin will remain.”

“What can you tell me about the beacon?” I asked them.

“It’s some type of data module form a galaxy-wide communications network,” Dr. Warren said, “Remarkably well preserved. It could be the greatest scientific discovery of our lifetime! Miraculous new technologies. Ground-breaking medical advances. Who knows what secrets are locked inside?”

“We have unearthed the heart of evil,” Manuel mourned, “Awakened the beast. Unleashed the darkness.”

“Manuel! Please!” Dr. Warren said, “This isn’t the time.”

“What’s wrong with him?” I asked, somewhat concerned by Manuel’s apparent hysteria.

“Manuel has a brilliant mind, but he’s always been a bit… unstable,” Dr. Warren said softly, “Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin.”

“Is it madness to see the future?” Manuel asked her, “To see the destruction rushing toward us? To understand there is no escape, no hope? No, I am not mad. I am the only sane one left.”

“I gave him an extra dose of his meds after the attack,” Dr. Warren said.

“I hope it helps him,” I said quietly, “One last thing, did either of you happen to see a turian come through here?”

“I saw him,” Manuel stated, his voice rising in pitch just a little, “The prophet. Leader of the enemy. He was here, before the attack.”

“That’s impossible,” Kaidan said, “Nihlus was with us on the Normandy before the attack, he couldn’t have been here.”

“He was with us on the Normandy during the attack too,” I said.

“I’m sorry, Manuel is a bit unsettled,” Dr. Warren said, “We haven’t seen your Turian. We’ve been hiding in this shed since the attack.”

“No harm done,” I told her, “I need to go, I hope everything works out well for you here. Williams, take us to the spaceport.”

“You can’t stop it,” Manuel said, “No one can stop it. Night is falling, the darkness of eternity.”

“Hush, Manuel, go lie down,” Dr. Warren told him, “You’ll feel better once the medication kicks in.” I certainly hoped that was true, but if he was unstable to begin with there was no telling what trauma on this scale might do to the Doctor’s assistant, and I had one more thing to worry about now. Nihlus, Anderson and my team were supposed to be the only ones here, and while the geth weren’t supposed to be here at least they were more or less easy to deal with. Another turian definitely shouldn’t be here though, and if the guy knew about the beacon it was more than likely that the Council had a security leak somewhere. We gave the camp a last quick once-over then headed out of the yard and started up the hill.


	2. Chapter 2

“Change of plans, Marley,” I told her, “There’s a small spaceport up ahead. I want to check it out. I’ll wait for you there.” I took my time on the way there, clearing as much of the hills as I could manage. Technically I was only supposed to observe how Marley approached combat, but finding the geth on the planet meant that all bets were off. There was no way I was going to risk her being injured or killed just because I wasn’t supposed to be involved in the mission beyond observation. I worked my way down into the valley to one side of the shipping platform then ducked down behind the wall to avoid being seen as I reached the top of the stairs. I stood and started cautiously onto the platform but nothing prepared me for who was standing there. “Saren?” I asked, trying to decide if I should be glad for the help, annoyed at the interruption, or telling him in no uncertain terms to get lost. “Nihlus,” he said, turning around to face me with a smile. Apparently Saren wasn’t having the same problem.

“This isn’t your mission, Saren,” I said flatly, “What are you doing here?”

“The Council thought you could use some help on this one,” Saren said, putting his hand on my shoulder as he walked past me. I watched him for a few seconds then turned back to study the rest of the shipping platform. “I wasn’t expecting to find the geth here,” I said quietly, “The situation is bad…”

“Don’t worry,” Saren said from behind me, “I’ve got it under control.” I had been about to walk away from Saren, but something in his voice made me turn around only to find him holding a gun on me. There wasn’t time to think, I just grabbed Saren’s arm and forced the weapon down and to my right trying to take it away. I didn’t even notice that the gun went off at some point during our scuffle. We backed away from each other, but it hurt like hell to move and I looked down to see I’d been shot. When I looked back up at Saren he had an annoyed expression on his face and was stalking toward me. “What’s going on, Saren?” I grunted, putting a hand over the bleeding wound as I moved behind a shipping crate to get some distance between myself and the other Spectre.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Saren said coldly, checking the load on the pistol before continuing, “But now that you are I can’t just let you leave, not alive. I can’t have you going to the Council and ruining my plans. Such a waste too, you were a good soldier and a good Spectre. Why are you here anyway?”

“That’s classified,” I couldn’t help but snap, “If you don’t already know I’m certainly not going to tell you.”

“Oh come now, I already know about the beacon,” Saren said, “I know that you came here with a human crew to pick it up. Why aren’t you with the rest of the extraction team? Unless… It’s Shepard, isn’t it? You’re still helping her play Spectre, trying to convince the Council they should recruit her.”

“What is it with you?” I demanded, “You’ve had it in for Marley ever since I suggested she might make a good Spectre!”

“So now it’s ‘Marley’ is it?” Saren sneered, “What did she do, promise to warm your bed for you if you put her up as a candidate?”

“How dare you think such a thing?! She’s not that kind of woman!” I spat furiously, still moving away from Saren. I managed to get a few more crates between us before ending up backed into a corner. I couldn’t keep this up much longer anyway, the wound was starting to make me pay for moving. Saren started to say something else but was interrupted by the sounds of gunfire coming from over the last hill. He looked away, giving me the time to duck down behind the crates. “I don’t have the time to play games with you,” Saren said, “But you’re not going anywhere. By the time she gets down here my geth will already have finished you off. And the best part? The Council will think Shepard had something to do with it. She will never be a Spectre, assuming she even survives.” I knew that already and it was the only thing keeping me from attempting to strangle him. I couldn’t let Marley get the blame for this. I heard Saren start to walk away and I took a quick look to see him heading in the direction of the cargo train. The Geth started toward my make-shift fort and I pulled back out of sight. They didn’t get more than two or three steps before there was an explosion and all but one of them stopped moving. The last one starting shooting, then the sound of a sniper rifle echoed around the valley and the Geth dropped dead on the platform.

 

“What is that?” Kaidan asked, pointing, “Off in the distance.”

“It’s a ship,” Ashley said in amazement, “Look at the size of it!” I was ignoring them, something more interesting was going on down on the shipping platform that was just too much of a temptation to pass up. How many times do you come across a whole group of your enemies standing around in a circle like idiots right by a fusion containment cell? I smirked a little, got down on one knee to steady my sniper, took careful aim and squeezed off the shot. The cell exploded and only one geth survived to start shooting at us, and I made short work of it with a well-placed shot to the main processor. “Commander, a little help would be nice,” Kaidan hollered.

“On it,” I said, lifting the husks of the dead colonists into the air with my biotics and helping my team pump rounds into them with my pistol as they came charging up the hill at us. My Lift didn’t last very long and Kaidan, Ashley and I continued shooting and backing away. The last one finally dropped and we all sighed in relief. The husks hadn’t even had time to overload on us. “What the hell happened, Commander?” Kaidan asked. He was annoyed, and I really didn’t blame him. “I’m sorry, Lt, I should have warned you,” I said, “I decided to take out everything that could shoot at us before they saw us. There were no zombies running around when I started.”

“It’s ok, Commander,” he said, “It just scared the hell out of me.”

“Me too,” I said, “We got lucky on that one, next time I’ll warn you.”

“We should probably keep going, Commander,” Ashley said. I nodded and lead the way down the hill, then took a detour when I noticed that the door to one of the sheds was locked from the inside. I motioned my team to keep watch then I went and hacked the electronic lock. “Everybody stay calm out there,” the first man said as he came walking out with his hands in the air, “We’re coming out, we’re unarmed.”

“Is it safe, are they gone?” a young woman who looked to me like she was in her teens asked quickly as she followed him.

“You’re ok,” I told them gently, “Nobody’s going to hurt you.”

“Those things were crawling all around the shed,” the man said, “They would have found us for sure. We owe you our lives.”

“I—I still can’t believe it,” the girl said, “When we saw that ship I thought it was all over!”

“It showed up right before the attack,” the man said, “Knew it was trouble the second I saw it, so we made a break for the sheds.”

“I need you to tell me everything you remember about the attack,” I told them gently.

“The three of us were working the crops when that ship showed up,” he said, “We just saw it and ran. I don’t know what happened to the rest of the crew.”

“They were by the garage, over by the spaceport,” another man said, coming to stand by the other two, “Right where that ship came down, no way they survived.”

“You don’t know that,” the girl told him, “We survived. If they made it to the garage they could have had a fighting chance.”

“Can you tell me anything more about the ship?” I asked.

“I was too busy running to get a clear look at it,” the first man said, “I think it landed over near the spaceport.”

“Tell them about the noise, Cole; that awful noise,” the girl said, sounding terrified.

“It was emitting some kind of signal as it descended,” Cole said, “Sounded like the shriek of the damned, only it was coming from inside your own head.”

“Trying to block communications, maybe?” I wondered.

“I don’t know,” Cole said, “Whatever it was, it felt like it was trying to tear right through my skull. Almost made it impossible to think.”

“I have to get going,” I said, “You three should be alright now.”

“Hey, Cole, we’re just a bunch of farmers,” the quiet man said, “These guys are soldiers, maybe we should give them the stuff.”

“Gees, Blake, you gotta learn when to shut up!” Cole snapped.

“Do you have something to tell me, Cole?” I asked him sternly, going into ‘commander mode.’

“Some guys at the spaceport were running a small smuggling ring, nothing major,” Cole said, “In exchange for a cut of the profits we let them store packages in our sheds.”

“What sort of packages,” I asked.

“I found a pistol,” Cole said nervously, “Figured it would come in handy if those things came back, but you’ll probably get more use out of it than we will.”

“We’re risking our lives to save this colony,” I told him quietly, “You sure there’s nothing else in here that could help us out?”

“Yeah, there’s one more thing,” Cole said, handing me a gun module, “I was going to sell it after this was over, but you probably deserve it more than I do.”

“Who’s your contact at the spaceport, Cole?” Ashley demanded, “What’s his name?”

“He’s not a bad guy,” Cole defended, “I don’t want to get him in trouble. Besides, I’m not a snitch!”

“He might have something to do with this whole attack, Cole,” I said in frustration, “We need his name, it’s important.”

“Yeah, okay. You’re right,” he said quietly, “His name’s Powell, works the docks at the spaceport. If he’s still alive.”

“Come on, let’s go,” I said to my team.

“Good luck,” Cole said and I nodded to him as we walked away. We searched the place while working our way down to the shipping platform then started up the stairs. “Um, Commander..?” Kaidan asked, his tone full of worry.

“Oh no…” I whispered, seeing that the platform was smeared with very blue blood. “Hello?” I called, looking around nervously, “Is anybody here?”

“M-Marley is that you?” I heard Nihlus call from somewhere I couldn’t see.

“Yeah, where are you?” I asked. I heard movement and I turned to see him stand up from behind some low crates in a corner to the right of the platform. “I’m here,” he said, then he hissed in pain and stumbled as he started to take a step towards me. I vaulted the crates and helped him sit on top of one of them while I inspected the still slightly dripping wound. It was hard to tell how bad it was, but I wasn’t going to take chances. “When I said be careful this isn’t what I had in mind,” I joked softly, applying medi-gel to stop the bleeding as much as I could, then I pressed a clean bandage over that.

“This certainly wasn’t the plan,” he grunted with a shake of his head.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Saren was here and at first we were just talking,” he said, “I only turned my back for a few seconds but it was enough. When I looked back at him he had a gun on me. We had a fight and he shot me. I don’t know why he didn’t just finish me off.”  
“It’s just a damn good thing for him he didn’t,” I growled.

“Commander, there’s something moving over there,” Ashley said suddenly, training her assault rifle on a stack of crates close to the wall of the garage while Kaidan and I aimed our pistols. “Wait, don’t shoot, I’m one of you, I’m human!” a man said as he stepped nervously from behind the crates.

“You’re a lucky bastard,” I snorted at him, “Sneaking up on us like that almost got you killed.”

“I-I’m sorry,” he said, “I was hiding from those creatures. My name’s Powell. I heard the whole thing, that guy, Saren, just…”

“Slow down,” I said, sounding a lot calmer than I felt, “Where did Saren go?”

“He jumped on the cargo train and headed over to the other platform,” Powell said, “Probably going after the beacon. I knew that beacon was trouble. Everything’s gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship shows up, then the attack. They killed everyone; everyone! If I hadn’t been behind the crates I’d be dead too!”

“Do I look dead to you?” Nihlus grumped, giving the man his best shut up look.

“N-no,” Powell stuttered.

“Why are you the only one who survived? Why didn’t anyone else hide back there?” I asked him, knowing full well that he would be dead if Saren had known he was there.

“They never had a chance,” Powell said, “I… I was already behind the crates when the attack started.”

“Wait a minute,” Kaidan said focusing in on the same thing I started to, “You were behind the crates before the attack?”

“You do know that doesn’t make your story sound any better, right?” Nihlus growled at him.

“I…” Powell gulped but he kept talking, “Sometimes I need a nap to get through my shift. I sneak off behind the crates to grab forty winks where the supervisor can’t find me.”

“You survived because you’re lazy?!” Ashley exploded.

“You’re Cole’s contact here on the docks,” I said, “For the smuggling ring.”

“What? No!” Powell protested, “I mean… What does it matter now? So I’m a smuggler, who cares? My supervisor’s dead, the entire crew is dead. It doesn’t matter now, does it?”

“Anything hidden nearby that we could use against the geth?” I asked him.

“A shipment of grenades came through last week,” Powell admitted, “Nobody notices if a few small pieces go missing from the military orders.”

“You greedy son of a bitch,” Ashley snarled, “We’re out here trying to protect your sorry ass and all you can think about is how you can rip us off?!”

“I never thought you’d actually need those grenades!” Powell protested, “Who’d want to attack Eden Prime? We’re just a bunch of farmers, how was I supposed to know?”

“Just give me the grenades,” I said evenly, his whining wasn’t doing my temper any good.

“They’re yours, take them,” Powell said, “My smuggling days are over, I swear.”

“A lot of marines died here, Powell,” I told him coolly, “Those grenades could have come in handy. If I were you, I’d think of some way to make it up to them.”

“Yeah, okay,” Powell wisely gave up, “There is something else I was saving. It could be worth a fortune, experimental technology, top of the line. Take it, I don’t need it. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt, really. I’m sorry.” I just nodded and took the module he handed me along with the grenades. “I need to find the beacon before it’s too late,” I told him.

“Take the cargo train, that’s where that other turian went,” Powell said, then he wandered away saying, “I… I can’t stay here… I need to get away from all this…” I rolled my eyes and shook my head, then bent to take another look at Nihlus’ wound. It didn’t look bad, but it didn’t look much better either. Clearly medi-gel will only do so much. “Marley, you should go,” he said, trying to push me away. I didn’t budge; instead I gently took his hand and turned on my comm to link up with the Normandy. “Joker don’t respond, just listen,” I said, “I need you to call Dr. Chakwas and get her as near as you can to these coordinates. Tell her to make sure her equipment is absolutely sterile.” I turned off my comm and looked at Ashley, “Williams, I need you to stay here until the Doc gets here, catch up with Lt. Alenko and me when Nihlus is safe.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Commander?” she asked.

“I’m not arguing with you,” I said, “One way or another someone is staying here and catching up later.”

“Alright, Commander,” she said, “Be careful, you hear?”

“I’ll be fine, Chief, thanks,” I said, “Let’s go, Lt.” I hated leaving Nihlus like this. Even though there was nothing else I could do, I still felt like I was deserting him. I sighed and gave his hand a slight squeeze, then Kaidan and I headed for the cargo train. When we rounded the next corner we nearly walked right into the two geth soldiers that were coming our way. I lifted them up in the air, giving Kaidan time to throw them against the wall. After that they only took one shot each to kill and we kept going. There were some crates standing at the top of the staircase we were coming to and out of habit I looked around them and down over the rail. On looking down I noticed at least one geth on the platform below, standing next to another conveniently placed fusion cell. I pulled out my rifle and blew up the cell, sending the geth flying through the air while it disintegrated. There were more down on the boarding platform for the train, but again, Kaidan and I had more than enough firepower to make short work of them. Even a juggernaut doesn’t last long when hit with two or three overloads and a lot of bullets. Ashley caught up with us just as we were getting to the train. “Did I miss anything?” she asked.

“Nope, nothing important,” I answered as we stepped onto the train, “You’re just in time to help us get the beacon though.”

“I hope this thing is worth it,” she grumped.

“Yeah, me too,” I said, starting up the train. Five minutes later we pulled into the next station and got off the train. “Demolition charges!” Kaidan said suddenly, “The geth must have planted them.”

“I’ll get them, cover me,” I said. The first one was right by us and I dropped down beside it and went to work. I noticed they were on a 4 minute timer which didn’t give me a lot of time so I started my electronics scanner and finished punching in the code to turn this one off. The next three were on the other side of the rails on an adjacent platform and we would have to fight through a lot of geth to get to them. “They have a sniper,” Ashley warned.

“There’s a destroyer and a couple of soldiers coming across the bridge too,” Kaidan added.

“Alright, you two concentrate on them,” I said, “I’ll get the sniper and whatever stays close to it.” I dodged behind a shipping crate and waited until I saw the laser from the geth sniper’s sight pointing down at the bomb I had just defused. I followed its trail, lined up my shot and squeezed the trigger. The sniper dropped, but another geth destroyer unit stepped out from behind a crate and fired a rocket at me. Luckily the rocket moved slowly enough that I had time to duck. The force of the rocket still drained my shields completely and I got a few good burns. My armor started pumping painkillers into me and I rolled my eyes, then I stood up and hit the destroyer with an overload, then a lift. My lift… Well that just made it mad and it launched another rocket in my general direction. Kaidan had a better idea, he picked it up and threw it against a shipping crate, used his own overload, and Ashley finished it off with her assault rifle. She and Kaidan covered me as I ran across the bridge and got to work on the bombs. I sighed in relief when I had them all down. The whole fight had only taken about two minutes and 35 seconds according to the timers, but it had felt like years. We did a quick search of the platforms but only turned up a packet of omni-gel and a couple of stray grenades. Still, better than nothing. We started down the stairs but were met with three more zombified colonists who came charging at us. Kaidan and I overloaded two of them, then we hosed all three with bullets and they all finally died. We had just gotten to the first landing when I saw a lone geth taking aim at us with a sniper. I turned and pumped shot after shot into it with my pistol until it died. We didn’t relax after that until we’d searched the whole platform and were satisfied that there would be no more surprises. My team and I then headed for the beacon and I turned on my comm. “Normandy, the beacon is secure,” I said, “Request immediate evac.”

“We read you loud and clear, Commander,” Captain Anderson responded, “We’re en route; stand by for pickup.”

“Roger, Normandy, standing by,” I said. I turned to say something to Ashley, but then noticed that Kaidan was being pulled toward the beacon. I didn’t think about it, I just pushed past Ashley and ran over to Kaidan and grabbed him, throwing him out of reach of the beacon. I tried to back up myself, but it was too late. My vision clouded then all I could see were fire and destruction as I felt myself being lifted into the air. The next thing I knew there was an explosion that sounded like it was coming from inside my head, then everything went black.

 

The first thing I heard when I started to come back to the land of the living was Kaidan informing Dr. Chakwas that he thought I was waking up. All I could do for a moment after I sat up though was groan. Damn, that fool beacon must have blasted me harder than I thought… “You had us worried there, Shepard,” Dr. Chakwas said, coming over to steady me, “How are you feeling?”

“Minor throbbing, nothing serious,” I said, “How long was I out?”

“About 15 hours,” she answered, “Something happened down there with the beacon, I think.”

“It’s my fault,” Kaidan was quick to take responsibility, “I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it, you had to push me out of the way.”

“You had no way to know what would happen,” I told him quietly. He just nodded and gave me a half smile. “Actually, we don’t even know if that’s what set it off,” Dr. Chakwas said, “Unfortunately, we’ll never get the chance to find out.”

“The beacon exploded, a system overload maybe,” Kaidan said, “The blast knocked you cold. Williams and I had to carry you back to the ship.”

“I appreciate it,” I said, choosing to ignore his nod and smile combo this time as I stood up, then leaned against one of the counters when the room started to spin.

“Physically you’re fine,” Dr. Chakwas said, “But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming.”

“I saw—I’m not sure what I saw,” I finished lamely, “Death. Destruction. Nothing’s really clear.”

“Hmmm. I better add this to my report,” she said thoughtfully, “It may—Oh, Captain Anderson.”

“How’s our XO holding up?” Anderson asked as he came striding into the med bay.

“All the readings look normal,” Dr. Chakwas informed him, “I’d say the commander’s going to be fine.”

“Glad to hear it,” he told her then he turned to me, “Shepard, I need to speak with you—in private.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Kaidan said with a salute, “I’ll be in the mess if you need me.”

“Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard, Commander,” Anderson said quietly, “You sure you’re ok?”

“I’m fine,” I said quietly, “I just—Jenkins was just a kid, Captain. He shouldn’t have had to die that way…”

“Jenkins wasn’t your fault,” he said, “You did a good job, Girl.” I wanted to contradict him and tell him I didn’t, but I knew he was right. No matter how guilty I might feel over Jenkins’ death and Nihlus’ injury, there wasn’t a thing I could actually have done to prevent either. “Did we leave Gunnery Chief Williams back on Eden Prime?” I asked, suddenly remembering the young marine.

“I figured we could use a soldier like her,” Anderson said, “She’s been reassigned to the Normandy.”

“Williams is a good soldier,” I sighed in relief, “She deserves it.”

“Lt. Alenko agrees with you,” he said with a smile in his voice, “That’s why I added her to our crew.”

“You said you needed to see me in private Captain..?” I finally asked.

“I won’t lie to you, Shepard, things look bad,” he said, “I haven’t gotten through to the Citadel yet but with Nihlus out of action completely for the time being, the beacon destroyed and geth invading, the Council is going to want answers.”

“Is Nihlus going to make it?” I asked.

“Dr. Chakwas says it’s too soon to tell, but she thinks he will make a full recovery,” Captain Anderson said.

“That’s some good news anyway, better than I hoped,” I said, “I didn’t do anything wrong, Sir. Hopefully, the Council will be able to see that.”

“I’ll stand behind you and your report, Shepard, you’re a damned hero in my books,” Anderson replied, “But that’s not why I’m here. It’s Saren, the other turian. Saren’s a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he’s working with the geth, it means he’s gone rogue. A rogue Spectre’s trouble, Saren’s dangerous. And he hates humans.”

“So I’ve heard,” I said, “But he didn’t come to Eden Prime because he hates humans, Captain.”

“You’re right, Shepard,” he said, “That beacon was the only reason he could possibly have had for going to Eden Prime, or allying with the geth. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?”

“Just before I lost consciousness I had some kind of vision,” I said.

“A vision?” Anderson asked, “A vision of what?”

“I saw synthetics, geth maybe. Slaughtering people, butchering them,” I answered.

“We need to report this to the Council, Shepard,” he said.

“Pff. What are we going to tell them, I had a bad dream?” I asked.

“We don’t know what information was stored in that beacon,” he said, “Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it. But I know Saren, I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has secrets from the beacon, he has an army of geth at his command. And he won’t stop until he’s wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!”

“I’ll find some way to take him down, even if I have to pay somebody,” I growled.

“Cool your jets, Girl,” he cautioned me, “It’s not that easy. He’s a Spectre. He can go anywhere, do almost anything. That’s why we need the Council on our side.”

“We prove Saren’s gone rogue and the Council will revoke his Spectre status,” I said.

“I’ll contact the Ambassador and see if he can get us an audience with the Council,” Anderson said, “He’ll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in to dock.”

“Can I ask you a favor, Captain?” I asked.

“What is it?” he asked. He was so used to my odd favors by now that he always asked what I wanted before giving me any kind of an answer. “Would it be possible to withhold information or would that get us in even more trouble?” I asked, “I could be wrong, but Saren tried to blow up the whole colony, I don’t trust him not to try to finish Nihlus off if it gets out that he’s still alive.”

“Nihlus could prove Saren is a traitor,” Anderson said doubtfully.

“That’s the point, Saren is trying to leave no evidence,” I said, “And no evidence means no witnesses. He doesn’t care how long a trail of bodies he leaves, so long as no one can prove what he’s up to.”

“I’ll think about it, but I can’t promise anything,” he sighed, “I wouldn’t mind, but if the brass found out that we left something out of a report a whole lot of things could go wrong.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” I said, “And the Council probably wouldn’t appreciate us using them to play poker with Saren. He can’t fool everybody though and I’m sure something will turn up. Could you have Dr. Chakwas come back in here when you go?”

“Sure,” Anderson said, “You feeling alright?”

“Yeah, Da, I just have a pounding headache that will keep me company for a while is all,” I laughed, “You do what you have to do, I’ll be okay.”

“Take it easy, Marley,” he said, and I nodded as he sent Dr. Chakwas back in.

“The captain said you asked to see me,” she said, coming to stand in front of me, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling fine, Doc, thanks,” I said, “How is Nihlus?”

“I just finished checking up on him, I think he’s going to be fine,” she said, “His wound is actually less severe than it looked when Chief Williams helped us get him on board. He asked for you as soon as the anesthetic started to wear off after I finished the surgery.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said, “We… We’re pretty close.”

“I assumed so, he asked for you by your first name,” Dr. Chakwas said, “He’s in the captain’s quarters. I decided he would get more rest there than he would here.”

“That’s probably true,” I said, “Thanks, Doc.” I stood up as carefully as possible, and when the room finally stopped spinning I left. Fifteen hours… That’s a long time to be out no matter how you look at it and I’m not even the one who got shot. I bypassed the mess and went straight to the captain’s quarters, deciding that a little wait wouldn’t kill Udina. Politicians are like cockroaches, they can survive almost anything. “Spirits, Marley, I was worried about you,” Nihlus sounded like he’d been just about ready to ignore the predictable order to stay in bed and come looking for me. “What happened to you?” he growled, and I had to look in a mirror to figure out what he was talking about.

“Oh this,” I laughed, pointing to the cut over my left eye.

“Yes, that,” he said.

“More my clumsiness than anything else,” I said, carefully sitting down on the bed beside him and taking his hand, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m not made of glass, Marley,” he laughed, “You and Chakwas are, how do you humans say it? Mother birds.”

“Mother hens, Nihlus,” I giggled.

“What’s a hen?” he asked.

“It’s a bird,” I explained, “They’re called chickens, females are hens, males are roosters.”

“That seems odd to me, since you also call someone who is a coward a ‘chicken’ but you are the least cowardly human I know,” he said.

“Yeah, there’s no way I can explain this so it will make any kind of sense,” I laughed.

“Is this the same as your human thing of calling someone a bitch?” he teased.

“That one makes about as much sense as this one,” I said, “A bitch is a female dog, the only reason I can think of that it somehow became a curse word is because of how it sounds.”

“It does have an angry sort of sound,” he commented, “So you’re off duty for a while, right?”

“No, unfortunately,” I sighed, “I have to be up on the bridge in a few minutes, I’m supposed to go with the captain when he has the meeting with Ambassador Udina.”

“I should be there,” he said quietly.

“No, you need to be here getting better,” I said softly, “I don’t really think the ambassador will much care whether I’m there or not, so once I’ve done whatever it is Anderson wants me to do I’m coming back.”

“Alright,” he sighed, “Just let me know when you go talk to the Council. They’ll ask questions eventually and I don’t want Saren to be the only one answering them. He will try to undermine you.”

“I would expect nothing less, you told me he doesn’t like humans,” I shrugged.

“This is worse, Marley,” he said, “I couldn’t keep my damn mouth shut and now he knows we’ve been seeing each other.”

“Are there regs?” I asked.

“Technically no, but they would question both our motives,” he sighed.

“I don’t suppose it would matter that you suggested ‘Commander M. Shepard, Alliance Marine’ before you figured out that was who I am,” I said.

“No, and they wouldn’t believe you didn’t know I was a Spectre either,” he replied.

“I don’t care,” I said, “Saren can say what he wants, you’re alive and that’s what matters to me.”

“Nothing gets to you, does it, Marley?” he asked with an amused smile.

“Just you,” I smiled back, giving him a kiss, “You get to me all the time. Listen, I have to go. If I don’t Captain Anderson will wonder what is taking so long.”

“I miss you, Marley,” he said softly.

“I miss you too,” I kissed him again, “I’ll be back as soon as I can, Nihlus; I promise.” He pulled me close again and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips, then I finally stood up and left. This was getting old, seemed like every time I turned around lately I was leaving him somewhere. As I started for the ramp leading up to the CIC I noticed Ashley standing off to one side of the mess. She looked a bit out of place and I could tell she was feeling pretty awkward too, so I went over to talk to her. “Oh! Commander, I’m glad you’re ok,” she said, “The crew could use some good news after what happened to Jenkins.”

“He was a valuable part of this crew,” I agreed, “He’ll be missed.”

“Part of me feels guilty over what happened,” she admitted, “If Jenkins was still alive, I might not be here.”

“You’re a good soldier, Williams. You belong on the Normandy,” I said gently, “I’m sure we could still have found a place for you here.” 

“Thanks, Commander,” she said, this time with a smile, “That means a lot from you. I’ve never met anyone who was awarded the Star of Terra.”

“Well now you have,” I laughed, “Things were pretty rough down there. Are you okay?”

“I’ve seen friends die before,” she said, “Comes with being a marine. But to see my whole squad wiped out… And you never get used to seeing dead civilians. But things would have been a lot worse if you hadn’t shown up.”

“We couldn’t have done it without you, Williams,” I said quietly.

“Thanks, Commander,” she said. I smiled and then I really did head for the bridge, I was probably pretty late by now and if I took any more time Anderson wouldn’t be the only one who would have my ass in a sling. As much as I don’t like politicians, you can still only push them so much before there are consequences. From the little I’d heard of Udina though it seemed he might tolerate more than most. “Good timing, Commander,” Joker said as I came up to stand behind him on the bridge, “I was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work.”

“I’m just along for the ride,” I laughed. Ashley and Kaidan showed up a few seconds later and we all stood there looking out the window as Joker navigated the Normandy through the traffic around the space station. “Look at the size of that ship!” Ashley said suddenly in amazement.

“The Ascension,” Kaidan said, “Flagship of the Citadel Fleet.”

“Well size isn’t everything,” Joker smirked.

“Why so touchy, Joker?” Ashley teased.

“I’m just saying, you need firepower too,” Joker defended.

“Look at that monster!” Ashley protested, “Its main gun could rip through the barriers on any ship in the Alliance Fleet.”

“Good thing it’s on our side, then,” Kaidan commented.

“Citadel Control, this is SSV Normandy, requesting permission to dock,” Joker said, ignoring the rest of the discussion.

“Stand by for clearance, Normandy,” an operator responded, then a few seconds later he said, “Clearance granted. You may begin your approach. Transferring you to an Alliance operator.”

“Roger, Citadel Control,” Joker said, “Normandy out.”

“Normandy, this is Alliance Tower,” a new operator came on the line, “Please proceed to dock 422.” The dock we were directed to was fairly unimpressive, but there were still plenty of other ships locked in there, and the place was moderately busy. As soon as the docking bay airlocks were in place, Kaidan, Ashley and I met up with Captain Anderson and we all made our way to the Citadel Embassies.


	3. Chapter 3

“This is an outrage!” the ambassador was snapping as we walked into the office, “The Council would step in if the geth attacked a Turian colony!”

“The turians don’t found colonies on the borders of the Terminus Systems, Ambassador,” the Salarian councilor said matter-of-factly.

“Humanity was well aware of the risks when you went into the Traverse,” the Asari councilor added to the logic.

“What about Saren? You can’t just ignore a rogue Spectre, I demand action!” Udina was grabbing at anything he could get at this point, and even I had to admit, it wasn’t much.

“You don’t get to make demands of the Council, Ambassador,” the Turian member of the council growled back, sounding peeved.

“Citadel Security is investigating your charges against Saren,” the Asari said reasonably, “We will discuss the C-Sec findings at the hearing, not before.” The Council ended the conversation then and for a moment Udina just stood there staring at the holo-projectors. I really wasn’t paying much attention to him, being busy trying to make up my mind about the Council. The Asari had the more diplomatic and polite disposition and I decided that if I had to deal with them directly I would go to her. The Salarian seemed to be like most of his race I’d met and tended to look at the practical side of things, and then there was the Turian. He looked enough like Nihlus that I could have mistaken them for brothers, but when he snapped at Udina the image was a bit broken, although in an amusing sort of way. “Captain Anderson, I see you’ve brought half your crew with you,” Udina said in a slightly mocking tone, interrupting my thoughts.

“Just the ground team from Eden Prime,” Captain Anderson said calmly, “In case you had any questions.”

“I have the mission reports,” Udina said, then folded his arms across his chest and asked, “I assume they’re accurate?”

“They are,” Anderson replied, “Sounds like you convinced the Council to give us an audience.”

“They were not happy about it,” Udina grumbled, “Saren’s their top agent; they don’t like him being accused of treason.”

“Saren’s a threat to every human colony out there, he needs to be stopped,” I shrugged, “The Council has to listen to us eventually.”

“Not so fast, Commander,” Udina said, “You’ve already done more than enough to jeopardize your candidacy for the Spectres. The mission on Eden Prime was a chance to prove that you could get the job done. Instead, Nihlus ended up dead, and the beacon was destroyed.” All I could do was nod to Udina as I let out a sigh of relief when he insulted me. Apparently Anderson hadn’t told them everything and they’d taken my report to mean Nihlus had been killed. “That’s Saren’s fault, not hers!” Anderson snapped at Udina, still not appreciating the insult.

“Then we’d better hope the C-Sec investigation turns up evidence to support our accusations,” Udina said coldly, “Otherwise the Council might use this as an excuse to keep you out of the Spectres. Come with me Captain. I want to go over a few things before the hearing.” He turned to the rest of us, “Shepard, you and the others can meet us at the Citadel Tower, top level. I’ll make sure you have clearance to get in.” I thought about sending Nihlus a message and telling him the Council had called a meeting for this morning but then decided against it. He wouldn’t be happy with me, but I didn’t want him pushing himself and possibly opening that wound up again. I watched as Udina gathered a couple of data-pads from his desk and headed for the door. After giving me a reassuring clap on the shoulder Captain Anderson followed him. I gave Anderson a slight smile then looked back at my friends. “And that is why I hate politicians,” Ashley grumped with a shake of her head.

“Eh, you get used to it,” I said, although I didn’t blame her very much. It was one thing to be good at politics, but it was quite another to insult everyone you shared a room with for more than five seconds. I smirked a little, thinking to myself that Udina and the turian should compare notes. “Well, we might as well get going, this mess won’t fix itself,” I told them.

“Right behind you, Commander,” Kaidan said. I smiled slightly at him, but stopped as he looked away in apparent embarrassment. Did I just make him blush? I wondered. I sure hoped not, Nihlus would probably understand but I really didn’t need or want Kaidan falling for me. “Commander Shepard, welcome to the Citadel,” a happy voice chirped as we started for the transit hub. I turned to see a pretty Asari sitting behind a desk.

“Hey,” I smiled as I walked over to her, “Sorry, it’s been a long time since I was here and I have no idea who you are, or how you know who I am.”

“My name is Saphyria, I’m the administrative assistant here at the embassies,” she explained, “I receive reports on all newly arrived notable individuals.”

“It’s nice to meet you Saphyria,” I said.

“And you as well Commander,” she said, then added, “Ambassador Udina requested that you be given top level security clearance. Here is your badge Commander, please don’t lose it.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, “I promise I won’t, I know how much paperwork the loss of something like this makes.”

“Have you had administrative duties?” she asked.

“Here and there,” I said, “Mostly though I learned about all of that from my parents, they were both in the Alliance Navy. My father was an admiral when he retired.”

“That explains the knowledge of paperwork,” Saphyria laughed.

“Thanks again,” I told her, “I have to go, I don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”

“You’re welcome, Commander,” she said with a smile, “If you have any other questions you can access Avina.”

“Avina?” Ashley asked, looking confused.

“Avina is the Citadel’s virtual tour guide,” Saphyria explained, “Feel free to access the terminal yourself.”

“Thanks for your help,” I said, waving to her as we headed out of the embassies.

“Have a pleasant day,” she smiled and waved back. As we walked past the terminal just outside the embassies a holograph opened up and said, “Welcome to the Citadel. I am Avina; allow me to be your guide.”

“It’s a naked Asari VI,” Kaidan said in amazement, staring openly at the hologram.

“Come on, L-T,” Ashley said taking hold of Kaidan’s ear and beginning to pull him along, “We don’t have time to drool over it, we have to get to the tower.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” Kaidan yelped, trying to make Ash let go.

“Probably naked to keep us interested enough to actually listen to it talk,” I said, laughing at Kaidan’s difficulty. I keyed in my pass code and the one for the shuttle that would take us to the Citadel tower. The wait wasn’t as long as I expected it to be, only about five minutes. I was still glad when the shuttle got there though; I wanted this business to be over so I could go hide on the Normandy for the rest of the day. I’m not normally antisocial, but I wanted to be close to Nihlus as much as possible right at the moment. I wasn’t hiding it very well either because Kaidan and Ashley both noticed my fidgeting. “Are you ok, Commander?” Ashley asked as we climbed into the shuttle, “You seem a little anxious.”

“I’m good,” I said, “Just worried. I don’t like being away from the ship, especially right now.”

“I didn’t take you for the antisocial type, Commander,” she teased.

“She isn’t,” Kaidan said, “What’s eating you, Commander?” Now I had a problem. I knew I could count on Kaidan to keep a secret, but that could put his career in danger. I also didn’t know Ashley well enough yet to be sure she wouldn’t say something that would tip off someone I might not be able to trust. “I’ll explain later, after the hearing,” I decided.

“You don’t trust the Council then,” Ashley stated rather than asked.

“Oh I don’t trust them, but I trust Saren even less,” I said, “I’ve had time to think about it, and the more I do, the more I think he had something to do with the beacon overloading and blowing up on me.”

“Then why worry about what the Council knows?” Ashley asked.

“Whatever they know, Saren will probably know it too,” Kaidan said, “They probably won’t believe that he’s a traitor until we bring them some sort of physical proof.”

“Did your turian manage to fill out a report before he died?” she asked.

“If he did I haven’t seen it,” I said, forcing myself not to get annoyed, “And with Saren being the Council’s favorite Spectre, it would be just my luck that he’d get Nihlus’ files.”

“So we’re back where we started, only now we don’t have any proof at all,” Ashley said.

“We might not have it, but there’s got to be something around somewhere,” Kaidan said, “Even he can’t account for everything.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right L-T,” Ashley said, “But I still don’t trust any of them.”

“Good, that means they can’t beat you at poker,” I told her as the shuttle pulled up to the tower and opened its hatch to let us out. The ride up the elevator was quiet since all three of us were busy with our own thoughts. I was trying to guess at how many pieces to the puzzle Saren might have, and I had to admit that the odds were not in my favor. Still, it could have been worse. If Udina had known Nihlus was alive then Saren would know it and I’d have to hurry up and put the Normandy on complete lockdown. I was considering doing that anyway, but I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to. The elevator stopped, putting an end to my thoughts for the moment as the three of us shuffled off and headed for the Council chamber. On the way there we saw two turians in the middle of a heated debate. The one in the suit I immediately recognized as the C-Sec executor, my cousin Tylee had talked and complained about him a lot. The other was younger, slightly taller and wearing blue combat armor. “Saren’s hiding something!” he argued, “Give me more time, stall them!”

“Stall the Council?” Executor Pallin asked in disbelief, “Don’t be ridiculous! Your investigation is over, Garrus.” Garrus glared after Pallin as he headed for the council chamber, then he noticed my group and came stalking over like he was on a mission. I wanted to laugh at the memory of Pressley’s comment about Nihlus, he couldn’t have looked any more determined than this guy did right now. “Commander Shepard?” he asked, then before I could answer he continued, “Garrus Vakarian. I was the officer in charge of the C-Sec investigation into Saren.”

“Come across anything I should know about?” I asked, trying to sound as unconcerned as possible. I didn’t need to ask how he knew who I was, if he knew Tylee at all he would likely be able to recognize me. “Saren’s a Spectre, most of his activities are classified. I couldn’t find anything solid,” Garrus said flatly, “But I know he’s up to something, like you humans say, I feel it in my gut.”

“I think the Council’s ready for us, Commander,” Kaidan interrupted. I could tell he was worried about making us look bad and I didn’t really blame him. I nodded then looked at Garrus and told him, “I have to go, they won’t be too happy if I keep them waiting.”

“Of course,” Garrus said, “Good luck, Shepard. Maybe they’ll listen to you.”

“I doubt it,” I snorted, “I’ll try, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”

“Don’t jinx it,” he smirked back at me over his shoulder as he headed for the transit hub.

“Good point, I have enough problems as it is,” I laughed, giving him a wave before heading through the garden to the foot of the steps where Captain Anderson was waiting for my team and me. “The hearing is already started, come on,” he said, turning and walking the rest of the way with us up the steps.

“The geth attack is a matter of some concern, but there is nothing to indicate Saren was involved in any way,” the Asari councilor had already started the hearing.

“The investigation by Citadel Security turned up no evidence to support your charge of treason,” the Turian added, sounding oddly reasonable at the moment.

“An eyewitness saw him kill Nihlus in cold blood,” Udina argued indignantly. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, technically Powell had seen nothing and his testimony would probably be shaky at best, although they sure as hell didn’t need to know that. “We’ve read the Eden Prime reports,” the Salarian said, sounding less than impressed with the material, “The testimony of one traumatized dockworker is hardly compelling proof.”

“I resent these accusations,” Saren added, his voice barely concealing a sneer, “Nihlus was a fellow Spectre, and a friend.” As much as I wanted to strangle him right now, I couldn’t help but wonder what Saren’s reasoning was. I also wondered if he knew how ridiculous he sounded to me. A farm world colonist wouldn’t have had a clue who he was if he hadn’t heard someone call him by his name. On top of that there was the fact that Nihlus had been very much alive and conscious when I got there and had told me exactly what happened. What could possibly have convinced Saren that this was a good idea and that it wouldn’t backfire on him? “That just let you catch him off guard,” Anderson snapped, interrupting my thoughts.

“Captain Anderson,” Saren said, this time not even bothering to hide the sneer in his voice, “You always seem to be involved when humanity makes false charges against me. And this must be your protégé, Commander Shepard. The one who let the beacon get destroyed.”

“The mission to Eden Prime was top secret,” I told him, folding my arms across my chest, “The only way you could know about it is if you were there.”

“With Nihlus gone his files were passed on to me,” Saren said with a condescending shake of his head, “I’ve read the Eden Prime reports; I was unimpressed. But what can you expect, from a human?”

“Saren despises humanity, that’s why he attacked Eden Prime!” I said, giving Ashley and Kaidan an ‘I told you so’ look.

“Your species needs to learn its place, Shepard,” Saren sneered, “You’re not ready to join the Council. You’re not even ready to join the Spectres.”

“He has no right to say that,” Udina protested, “That’s not his decision!”

“Learn our place?!” I nearly yelled, “You’re such a child, Saren, all of the insults in the galaxy aren’t going to make this problem go away.”

“Now look who’s doing the insulting, Shepard,” he sneered back.

“Can it!” I spat at him, “I’ve heard it all before from better guys than you, so don’t give me that bullshit.”

“Oh, and who would that be?” he smirked back, “Please, do enlighten us, Shepard. Or should I call you Marley?”

“I’m warning you, Saren, back off!” I snarled. Not one of my brighter moments, since I was so angry I was ready strangle him through the extranet. This argument had an unexpected and helpful side effect though. “Shepard’s admission into the Spectres is not the purpose of this meeting,” the Asari said sternly, managing to include both of us in a severe ‘stop being children’ look and reminding me for all the world of one of my high school English teachers.

“This meeting has no purpose,” Saren retorted, “The humans are wasting your time, Councilor, and mine.”

“You can’t hide behind the Council forever!” I snapped at him.

“What we need is evidence,” the Salarian said in an attempt to get the meeting back on track, “So far we’ve seen nothing.”

“There is still one outstanding issue,” Captain Anderson said, “Commander Shepard’s vision. It may have been triggered by the beacon.” Oh bloody hell; did he have to bring that up again? I might not have had things under control, but I was doing a lot better without being reminded of that, and I couldn’t help shaking my head and dropping my face into my hand. “Are we allowing dreams into evidence now?” Saren demanded indignantly, “How can I defend my innocence against this kind of testimony?”

“I agree,” the Turian Councilor said, “Our judgment must be based on facts and evidence, not wild imaginings and reckless speculation.” I didn’t miss the fact that the Councilor looked at me when he said this. Clearly he agreed with Saren about me at least, if not the rest of humanity. I wondered if he just didn’t like humans or if he had something against me personally. Either way, it was score one for Saren and my poker game was over. All because we had to tell them the beacon decided that exploding on me wasn’t bad enough. Time to fold for now and come back later when I had better cards in my hand. “Do you have anything else to add, Commander Shepard?” the Salarian finally asked, rather quietly I thought.

“You’ve made your decision,” I said calmly, “Even if I had anything more to add, it wouldn’t be enough.” The councilors all shared a look, but as subtle as they tried to be I didn’t miss the silent exchange between the Asari and the Turian. Well if they aren’t sharing a bed now they soon will be. I almost laughed on thinking that it was fine for them but they’d probably accuse me of seduction if they found out about Nihlus and me. “The Council has found no evidence of any connection between Saren and the geth,” the Asari said, bringing me out of my thoughts, “Ambassador, your petition to have him disbarred from the Spectres is denied.”

“I’m glad to see justice was served,” Saren said with a mocking bow. Oh how I wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off his face. I decided that I would, he had to slip up eventually, and when he did I’d make sure I was there to catch him at it. “This meeting is adjourned,” the Asari councilor said. Saren’s holo-projection faded and the Council walked away. We retreated back to the top of the staircase so we could talk. “It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing, Captain. You and Saren have too much history, it made the Council question our motives,” Udina said, then he turned on me and growled, “And the next time you decide to explode, Commander, make sure you think good and hard about it first!”

“Oh no, no way, this is not going to be about me,” I stated, “He started this war, there is no way in hell I’m letting him off the hook.” There was no way I was going to apologize either for that matter. “We’re all a little frustrated,” Anderson said, “But I know Saren. He’s working with the geth for one reason: to exterminate the entire human race. Every colony we have is at risk, every world we control is in danger, even Earth isn’t safe.”

“Maybe that’s what he meant,” I muttered to myself, remembering that Nihlus had asked me how safe Eden Prime really was, then I looked at Anderson and asked, “What happened between you and Saren, sir?” I had never asked before because I knew it was hard for him to talk about but I felt like I would need to know soon since I wanted to be sure I wouldn’t make a stupid mistake that might get someone killed. “I worked with him on a mission a long time ago,” Anderson explained, “Things went bad, real bad. We shouldn’t talk about this here. But I know what he’s like, and he has to be stopped.”

“So what now?” I asked, deciding that I would ask him about Saren later.

“As a Spectre, he’s virtually untouchable,” Udina said, placing a hand to his chin in thought, “We need to find some way to expose him…”

“What about Garrus, that C-Sec investigator?” Kaiden asked, “We saw him arguing with the executor.”

“That’s right,” Ash said with a snap of her fingers, “He was asking for more time to finish his report. Seemed like he was close to finding something on Saren.”

“Do you know where we can find him?” I asked Anderson.

“I have a contact in C-Sec who can help us track Garrus down,” Udina answered, “His name is Harkin.”

“Forget it,” Anderson said in disgust, “They suspended Harkin last month; drinking on the job. I won’t waste my time with that loser.”

“You won’t have to,” Udina said, “I don’t want the Council using your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore anything we turn up; Shepard will handle this.”

“Wait, you can’t just cut the captain out of the investigation,” I said in surprise.

“Marley, he’s right,” Captain Anderson said quietly laying a gentle hand on my shoulder, “I need to step aside.” I wanted to argue, but when my godfather used my first name he had a better reason than usual for whatever he was doing. That didn’t mean I always liked it, but I nodded anyway. “I need to take care of some business,” Udina said, “Captain, meet me in my office later.”

As he left I heard Ash hiss, “Jackass.” She was right about that for sure.

“Harkin’s probably getting drunk at Chora’s Den,” Anderson said, “It’s a dingy little club down in the lower section of the wards.”

“This isn’t fair, Da,” I grumped.

“I’m proud of you, Marley,” he said, “And I know you can do this, people like you.”

“Will you tell me about Saren?” I asked quietly.

“Later,” he promised, “Go find Garrus. If you need me, I’ll be in Udina’s office.” He hugged me, then left for the transit hub. “I won’t let you down Captain,” I promised.


	4. Chapter 4

“Told you that whatever the Council knew, Saren would know it too,” I snorted as we walked down the stairs, “I was just hoping Captain Anderson wouldn’t tell them about my vision…”

“It didn’t help, but we didn’t have a lot of time to plan for this either,” Kaidan said quietly.

“No, we certainly didn’t,” I said, “Although, to be fair I expected it, he did say that we needed to report it.”

“So, what now?” Ashley asked.

“We find Garrus, and then I go hide on the ship for a day or three,” I said.

“Are you going to explain why you’re hiding from us?” she laughed.

“Personal reasons,” I said, “I can’t say more here, I don’t want to have to look over my shoulder on my own ship.”

“Alright, your loss, Commander,” Ashley teased, “We were planning to hit some clubs when we were off duty later.”

“I’ll just have to take a reign check on the clubbing until a later date guys,” I smiled, “Really, I’m fine. Let’s go find Garrus, then we can go relax.”

“Right behind you, Commander,” Ashley said. We got to the bottom of the stairs and Ashley whispered in my ear, “That guy’s up to something.”

“What guy?” Kaidan wanted to know as he turned to look where she was pointing.

“The one over by the keeper,” she said. I looked and noticed a Salarian kneeling beside the keeper. When I walked up to them he quickly stood and moved away from it and started to fidget nervously. “What? Oh, no I wasn’t… Never mind,” he stuttered. I just stood there and waited for him to talk. He would eventually, nervous people always do. “Um yes, is there something you want?” he finally asked.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously, “Why so interested in the keepers?”

“The keepers?” he repeated, “I have no interest in the keep—“

“Don’t get coy,” Ashley interrupted him, “I know what I saw!”

“Easy Ash,” I said gently, “The guy didn’t do anything yet, the thing didn’t explode so it can’t be that bad.”

“I’m uh… I’m not sure I should be talking to you about this,” he said, still very nervous.

“Relax,” I said giving him a warm smile, “Just tell me what you’re doing; I’m not here to get you into trouble. What’s your name?”

“Alright, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you,” he said after a few seconds’ deliberation, “My name is Chorban. I’m using a small scanner to gather readings on the keepers. So far I’ve had mixed results, I find it difficult to get near the creatures.”

“Why be so secretive about it though?” I asked gently.

“Well, technically we’re not supposed to disturb the keepers,” Chorban explained as he started to fidget nervously with his hands again, “I don’t really think my scanning disturbs them, but the authorities might disagree. I’d like to do it more openly, but it isn’t really worth getting arrested over.” I decided to help him. I knew he couldn’t be the only one who was curious about the keepers, even if I wasn’t especially interested. “I could help you out,” I said with a smile, “I’m not worried about the authorities.”

“Skipper, are you sure this is a good idea?” Ashley asked, looking at me like I was nuts.

“It would help, yes,” Chorban admitted, “But I don’t even know who you are…”

“I’m Commander Shepard, Alliance Military,” I said.

“Hmm. Well, I could use the help. You’ll need this,” he said, handing me a small electronic gadget, “It’s the scanning device I developed. Activate it each time you see a keeper, and all collected data will automatically be uploaded to my database. I’ll even send a few extra credits your way for each unique scan.”

“Well, I should get to it then,” I smiled, accepting the scanner.

“Yes, I have much work to do myself,” Chorban said, “So long, and good luck with the scanning.” As Chorban walked away Ashley looked at me like I was completely out of my mind. “I would have turned him in, Skipper,” she said flatly.

“Oh come on Ash,” I teased, “Nothing fun or useful comes without a little risk. Who knows, this information might save our lives one day.”

“You’re being melodramatic on purpose, Commander,” she said, but she laughed.

“You’ll get used to it Chief,” Kaidan chuckled as I keyed in the codes for a shuttle to take us down to Chora’s Den. The shuttle ride was a long one, long enough to make us feel like we’d been folded and packed for a vacation. When the shuttle stopped at the transit hub we all crawled out and stood there stretching for a couple of seconds. “Well, that was sure a long ride,” I said, “Does anyone else feel like we just got unpacked from storage?”

“That’s exactly what I feel like,” Kaidan said as we started toward Chora’s. The club was situated on a hub of intersecting skyways over the shuttle lanes. If I had to guess I would say that was the plan, it looked a bit sad and run down to me. “This place looks shady,” Ashley said.

“She’s right, Commander,” Kaidan said, “I don’t like the look of this.”

“What, not going to add it to your clubbing list?” I teased them, then we all ducked behind the guard rail as a bullet ricocheted off a pillar and whined over our heads.

“Great, a welcoming committee,” Ashley grumbled. I took a quick peek over the rail to see three assassins, all turians, closing in on us and I ducked again. I barely avoided another bullet. Ashley lost no time in pumping one of them full of assault rifle rounds and Kaidan threw another against a wall, then he and Ashley finished him off. The last one took a few shots at me from behind a low guard rail, then ducked down out of sight. I planted an overload on the wall behind him and waited for it to fry his shields. When that worked somewhat, I planted a grenade in the same spot and the blast vaporized the assassin. “When are people going to learn not to mess with us?” I grumped as we continued toward the club.

“Judging by the way things have been turning out recently, probably never,” Kaidan said.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said, “I could hope though.” The first thing I was presented with upon walking into Chora’s Den was an Asari stripper’s ass. “A million light years from where humanity began and we walk into a bar filled with men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't decide if that's funny or sad,” Ashley commented.

“What? You don’t think they’re here because of the food?” Kaidan joked, but I noticed he was looking up at the stage himself as he added, “Although, I see why this place is so popular. It’s got quite the, uh, view.”

“Hey, Lieutenant,” Ashley hissed, and when Kaidan turned to look at her she continued, “Put your tongue back in your mouth before you trip on it.”

“Consider it funny, Chief, I see more than just human men drooling over these girls,” I giggled, Good to know some things never change. There were two more strippers, one human and one asari, and they both tried to get our attention. I tipped them and told them to pick somebody they liked and give them a show, not really wanting to try having a talk with this Harkin guy while he was distracted. Assuming we could even find him. We almost ran into an angry krogan with a scar on his face as he stalked away from another krogan who was working as a bouncer. I also noticed a half drunk turian holding a glass with both hands and staring into the bottom of it like he expected it to have the answer to life. I finally asked the girl tending the bar where Harkin was and she pointed to a table in the very back of the club. I thanked her and walked over to him with the others trailing behind. “Hey there, sweetheart,” Harkin said, his face lighting up in a very drunken grin when he saw me, “You lookin’ for some fun? ‘Cause I gotta say, that soldier get-up looks real good on that bod o’ yours.” Kaidan glared angrily at the man and I thought he might punch Harkin before I could say a word. Yeah, he definitely had a crush on me. Why was a complete mystery to me, but I would definitely have to tell him about Nihlus sooner rather than later. If I didn’t he’d just fall for me and get upset when I had to reject him. Harkin just smirked a little as he saw Kaidan’s hand ball up into a fist and continued, patting his lap, “Why don’t you sit your sweet little ass down beside ol’ Harkin? Have a drink; we’ll see where this goes.”

“Beside, or on?” I asked, grinning in amusement, though I noted that Kaidan was not at all pleased, “Sorry, but I’ll have to pass for now. Maybe another time.”

“Suit yourself princess,” Harkin shrugged, “You know, if more marines looked like you I might have joined the Alliance instead of C-Sec.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” I smiled, “I have a couple questions, if you don’t mind.”

“I can’t promise it won’t cost you,” he smirked.

“I was told you could help me find someone,” I told him, “A turian C-Sec officer named Garrus.”

“Garrus? Ha! You must be one of Anderson’s crew,” Harkin said. I had to hand it to the guy, for being so drunk it was comical, he was still pretty sharp. “Poor bastard’s still trying to bring Saren down eh?” Harkin continued, “Yeah, I know where Garrus is, but you gotta tell me something first. Did the captain let you in on his big secret?”

“There something I should know about the captain?” I asked. I failed to see how this had any relevance to what I needed, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to play along for a little. “The captain used to be a Spectre. Didn’t know that did you? It was all very hush-hush. The first human ever given that honor, and he blew it, screwed up his mission so bad they kicked him out!” Harkin said, then he went on sarcastically, “Of course, he blames Saren, says the turian set him up.”

“I hate to burst your bubble, Harkin, but that’s exactly the kind of thing Saren would do,” I told him quietly, then I asked, “How did you find out?”

“I spent twenty years working cases here on the Citadel. You’d be amazed what you hear just by buying a round and listening,” Harkin smirked, “People on this station love to talk. Everyone’s got a secret and most are willing to share if you can pay the right price. Secrets are like herpes: if you got ‘em, might as well spread ‘em around!” I couldn’t help it, I laughed aloud and poured myself a shot. “Here’s to herpes,” I giggled, raising the glass then downing it, and Harkin obliged by following with his own glass. “So, Garrus?” I asked with a smile.

“He was sniffing around Dr. Michel’s office,” Harkin said, “She runs the med clinic over on the other side of the wards. Last I heard, he was goin’ back there, but that was a while ago, two hours or more. Probably back at C-Sec by now.”  
“Thanks Harkin,” I grinned, “I have to go.”

“Good, go,” Harkin sighed in what sounded like disappointment, “Let me drink in peace…” I shook my head, still smiling, then made my way to the bar. “Hey there,” I smiled to the girl serving drinks, “Get Harkin over there another bottle, on me. Tell him ‘Princess’ says thanks. He’ll know who you’re talking about.” She looked at me like I was crazy, but nodded. I transferred the credits then headed out with my team. “Why didn’t Captain Anderson tell us he was asked to be a Spectre?” Ashley asked.

“Maybe it’s not true,” Kaidan said, “Harkin’s an ass, I bet he was just messing with our heads. And honestly, Commander, did you have to encourage him, and his drinking too?”

“There was a reason, Kaidan,” I explained, “If we need to ask him more questions I don’t want him to stonewall me. Think positive, we’re a lot closer now than we were, we know where to look at least.” A quick glance at my OT told me that I had 4 messages from Nihlus, and two and a half hours to kill before lunch. Ok make that 5, I thought as the omni-tool bonged at me again. I sighed and shook my head, there was no way I could stop by the ship and get back in time for lunch. It would take me an hour just to get to C-Sec, then another hour to get back to the embassies. I need a few more hours in my day, maybe then I wouldn’t always run out of time when I need it the most. I decided that I would just have to go see Anderson and hope I had some time off after we rounded up Garrus. “Hey,” Ash said gently, interrupting my thoughts, “You ok, Commander?”

“Yeah I’m good,” I said, “Just thinking. I want to go talk to Captain Anderson though, see if Harkin knew what he was talking about or if it was just something some idiot told him to make him shut up.”

“Want us to go with you, Commander?” Kaidan asked.

“No, I want to go alone,” I said, “I want to break it to him gently that I know, if it’s even true at all. You two go ahead and take a break, I’ll meet you over at that cute little café a couple of blocks down from the embassies in an hour and a half and we’ll see if we can track down Garrus.” They saluted and left while I keyed up a shuttle for the Presidium. Once I had some privacy, I finally opened up my OT again and read Nihlus’ messages. I wasn’t too surprised to find that I’d had him worried; I had thought I would be back on the ship by now. I dialed his OT and he picked up on the first ring. “Hey, Marley,” he said with a smile in his voice, “How did it go with the Ambassador?”

“Well, he was crabby, to say the least,” I laughed, “Unfortunately we also got stuck meeting with the Council immediately after. They decided to call a hearing, but for some reason they didn’t wait for the C-Sec officer to finish his investigation.”

“A hearing? For what?” Nihlus asked.

“Udina pulled a typical politician stunt, he tried to get Saren disbarred from the Spectres,” I explained, “I don’t think the Council were pleased, they called the hearing and C-Sec had to scramble to even begin an investigation. Officer Vakarian only got about halfway through before the executor shut him down.”

“What about you? Did they ask you any awkward questions?” he wanted to know.

“No, I don’t think they even thought about it,” I said, “Saren and I had a bit of a disagreement, to say the least.”

“Did this ‘disagreement’ happen to involve our relationship again?” Nihlus asked, sounding annoyed.

“We didn’t get that far, the Asari Councilor stopped us before we could shred each other through the extranet,” I said, “I’m sure we would have gotten to it though, and it wouldn’t have taken long.”

“You shouldn’t have had to take that from him, Marley,” Nihlus sighed.

“I’ll live, Nihlus,” I said softly, “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine,” he said, the smile coming back, “Chakwas is still convinced I’m made of glass.”

“Well good, she’s keeping you in bed where you belong,” I teased him.

“Hey now, you’re supposed to be on my side,” he protested, laughing.

“I am on your side,” I smiled, “That’s why I want you to be in bed, I want you to get better.”

“I know,” he said, and I could tell he was smiling too, “I guess you’ll be on duty a little longer than you thought now?”

“Yeah, no one really had any time to prepare for the hearing, so there might be another one later,” I said, “Captain Anderson asked me to help out with some things in case they do call for a follow-up.”

“Then I should let you get back to work,” he said quietly, “I miss you, Marley.”

“I miss you too, Nihlus,” I said, “I’ll see you as soon as I can.” We hung up and I almost cried. I just hoped this would be the last time I would have to make him wait like this for a while. A few minutes later the shuttle finally parked at the transit hub. I climbed out and decided to walk the five blocks to the embassies. “Hey Saphyria,” I called, walking into the building.

“Commander, it’s good to see you again,” she said with a smile.

“You too,” I grinned, “Listen, do you by any chance know if Captain Anderson is in Udina’s office?”

“I’m sorry, Commander,” she said, “Neither one of them are in at the moment. I can take a message for you though if you’d like to leave one.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” I said, then I looked to the left wing of the embassies, “I know this question should probably be directed to Avina, but I feel like talking to a person right now rather than a VI. What is to the left, over there?”

“That’s where you’ll find C-Sec Executor Pallin’s administrative office, and also the embassy bar, which you need clearance in order to enter,” she explained, adding, “You have the clearance if you want to go in by the way.”

“I’ll pass on the bar for now, but is Executor Pallin in?” I asked.

“Yes, he’ll be in for the next—“ she checked her time-log, “hour and a half.”

“Thanks,” I smiled to her, “I’ll see you later.” She waved and I headed up the stairs. Hopefully the Executor wouldn’t mind talking about Garrus. I knew I wasn’t likely to be the Executor’s favorite person in the galaxy though. I just hoped he would at least hear me out before tossing me out on my ass. He was typing away at his computer when I walked in, but looked up as I entered. “Commander Shepard,” he said, politely if a little coolly, “I didn’t expect to see you here. Did Ambassador Udina send you?”  
“Nope, I came here on my own,” I said, “I was hoping I could ask you a few questions if you didn’t mind.”

“You humans are always so curious,” he growled, giving the classic annoyed eye-roll I usually got from my father when I started begging, or whining, “Always sticking your fingers in someone else’s pie. Is that the right human saying?” I had no idea what he was trying to say, it was a phrase I hadn’t heard before, but that didn’t stop it from sounding dirty to me. It must have shown on my face because he shook his head and groaned, “Never mind, forget I asked. Please, take a seat. What can I do for you, Commander?”

I accepted his offer and nodded my thanks before getting to why I was there, “I was just hoping you could tell me a little about one of your officers, Garrus Vakarian.”

“Good officer, very good in fact,” Pallin admitted, though he sounded hardly pleased with admitting it, “But he needs to learn some patience. You’d think that an officer of the law would be a little more mindful of rules and regulations. Honestly I think the kid could have stood to stay in the military a little longer before transferring here.”

“Is he a good soldier?” I asked.

“Damn good,” Pallin said, “Best sniper I’ve ever seen, knows his way around an assault rifle as well, and even a pistol if the situation calls for it.” Well, that was a few points in Garrus’ favor. I was a sniper myself, and sometimes having another to back you up helped loads when things went to hell. “I overheard you talking with him about Saren,” I said, “I know you probably can’t talk about the investigation, but can you talk about Garrus and his relation to it?”

“He was the head investigator for that case, I can’t give you anything else,” Executor Pallin said.

“You mentioned he’s not one for following rules or regulations?” I asked. This kid sounded like he had potential. Even though he wouldn’t likely be a voice of reason, the ride would probably be fun. “He breaks the rules very often, and I think he does it just to spite his father and me,” Pallin groaned, leaning back in his chair.

“His father?” I asked.

“Fideris Vakarian, he’s a very decorated and highly respected C-Sec officer,” Executor Pallin explained.

“Do they not get along?” I asked.

“You could say that,” Pallin growled. Well if Garrus’ father was anything like mine, there wasn’t much that didn’t set the man off. My own father still wasn’t speaking to me over Nihlus. “What has Garrus done?” I asked the executor.

“The right question is, what hasn’t he done,” Pallin grumbled, “Reckless driving, flying patrol shuttles over the Presidium, and countless other things ranging from merely annoying to absolutely dangerous, though mostly to himself.” I smiled a little to myself, Garrus sounded like he’d be fun to have around. I was sure that Executor Pallin would not agree with my assessment though. “Can you tell me where I can find him?” I asked.

“Well, he was in his office at the Academy a little over a half an hour ago, but it’s not likely he stayed there. You might check Dr. Michel’s Med Clinic down in the lower section of the wards,” Pallin said, “The investigation is officially closed and I’ve told him at least a dozen times to drop it, but I think he’s still trying to find dirt on Saren. What he lacks in discipline he certainly makes up for in energy and pure stubbornness. Anything else, Commander?”

“Nope, that should do it,” I said, “Thanks for your time Executor.” I stood and walked out, leaving Pallin to his work while I headed for the café where I’d told Ash and Kaidan to meet me. Surprisingly they were already there waiting for me when I showed up. “You two are early,” I told them.

“We got bored,” Kaidan shrugged, “Shopping isn’t really my thing.”

“How did the captain take finding out Harkin knew he was asked to be a Spectre?” Ashley asked, her voice full of concern.

“I didn’t get to talk to him, he wasn’t around,” I said, “I did talk to Executor Pallin though, apparently even though the investigation is officially closed Garrus isn’t ready to give up yet.”

“He might find something then,” Kaidan said, “Couldn’t hurt to find out what he’s turned up so far.”

“Alright then, so do we go to the clinic or do we go to C-Sec?” Ashley asked.

“Med clinic,” I said, “Executor Pallin said Garrus would most likely be there.” We ate a quick lunch then took a shuttle down to the markets and walked the rest of the way to the clinic. As we walked in we saw the doctor surrounded by thugs. Garrus was hiding behind the med counter and slowly working his way around toward the end. Clearly the thugs had no idea he was there. “I didn’t tell anyone, I swear,” Dr. Michel whimpered.

“That was smart, Doc,” the leader smirked, “Now if Garrus comes around, you stay smart. Keep your mouth shut or we’ll…” At that point he saw me, grabbed Dr. Michel and held her back tight to him, using her as a shield. “Who are you?” he demanded angrily.  
“Let her go,” I ordered coldly. I was only going to say it once. Garrus took the chance and slipped out from behind the counter and drilled the man right in the head with a pistol shot, then grabbed the doctor and pulled her down behind her desk. “Three left,” Ashley said.

“I’ve got the one on the left,” Kaidan said, pulling the man out from behind the pillar and filling him full of pistol rounds.

“I’ve got right,” Ash said, taking that one out with her assault rifle.

“Looks like it’s leftovers for me,” I said. I planted an overload over on the floor beside the merc, since he was hiding behind some crates. It fried his shields, and blew up what looked like a propane tank that had been sitting there beside him. That tank must have had some heavy chemicals in it though because there wasn’t anything left of the merc but a pile of ashes. “Perfect timing, Shepard,” Garrus said, “Gave me a clear shot at that bastard.”

“That was some damn good shooting too,” I grinned.

“Sometimes you get lucky,” Garrus smirked, then he turned to the doctor, “Dr. Michel, are you hurt?”


	5. Chapter 5

“No, I’m ok,” Dr. Michel said, “Thanks to you. All of you.”

“I know those men threatened you,” I told her gently as I rested against her desk, “But if you can tell us who they work for, we can protect you.”

“They work for Fist,” she explained, “They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian.”

“Quarian?” I asked; now I was interested.

Dr. Michel started to pace as she explained, “A few days ago, a quarian came by my office. She’d been shot, and she wouldn’t tell me who did it. I could see she was scared, probably on the run, she asked me about the Shadow Broker. She wanted to trade information in exchange for a safe place to hide.”

“Where is she now?” I asked, hoping that she could help us out if we could find her.

“I put her in contact with Fist,” Dr. Michel said, “He’s an agent for the Shadow Broker.”

“Not anymore,” Garrus said, “Now he works for Saren, and the Shadow Broker is not happy about it.”

“Fist betrayed the Shadow Broker?” Dr. Michel asked in amazement, “That’s stupid, even for him. Saren must have made him quite the offer.”

“That quarian must have something Saren wants, something worth crossing the Shadow Broker to get,” Garrus mused.

“She must have something that proves he’s a traitor,” I said, starting to feel a little excited, “Did the quarian mention anything about Saren? Or the geth?”

“She did!” Dr. Michel exclaimed, “The information she was going to trade. She said it had something to do with Saren and the geth”

“Time we paid Fist a visit,” I told my team. I headed for the door, but was stopped by Garrus. “This is your show Shepard,” he said, stepping forward so he was only about a foot and a half away from me, “But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do, I’m coming with you.” Ok this was just embarrassing; I’m so short that I couldn’t even see his face when I looked up, just the ridge of his armor. I reached up and gently pushed him back out of my bubble so I could see his face again and asked, “Why do you want to hand him his ass?”

“I couldn’t find the proof I needed in my investigation, but I knew what was really going on,” Garrus growled, clearly angry at the fact he hadn’t been allowed to finish his investigation, “Saren is a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!” Well, I wouldn’t argue with him and if he wanted to help I certainly wasn’t going to reject him. “Welcome aboard Garrus,” I said with a half smile.

“So what’s our next step, Commander?” Kaidan wanted to know.

“Since the Shadow Broker is involved, we should go talk to a volus, Barla Von,” Garrus suggested, “He’s an agent for the Shadow Broker and he might have evidence, or even just be willing to help us against Saren.”

“Alright, Garrus and I are going to talk to Barla Von,” I said, turning to Ash and Kaidan, “I’d like you two to find Anderson and give him an update on our progress so far.”

“Skipper, I really don’t think you should—”

“Easy Ash,” I said with a smile, “I’ll be fine. It’s not like a volus is going to give me any trouble.”

“It’s not the volus I’m worried about,” she whispered, shooting Garrus a suspicious look.

“There are worse people I could have asked to do this with me,” I said, giggling a little as I added, “And one of them is my cousin.” Ashley looked at me like she wanted to protest but then she nodded. “Come on L-T,” she said, gently tugging Kaidan away by the arm. He looked like he was uncomfortable with the idea of me being alone with the turian as well. I waved to them, then made a shooing motion with my hands and they finally took the hint. I shook my head and laughed then looked up at Garrus again, “Alright, let’s go find Barla Von. It was nice to meet you Doctor.”

“And you as well,” Dr. Michel smiled, shaking my hand, “Thank you again, Commander.”

“I’ll talk to you later,” Garrus told her with a smile and we left the med clinic. “So, I’m guessing you jinxed it?” he joked as we walked.

“The sad part is there was nothing to jinx,” I laughed, “There was no evidence and the fact that a dock worker knew Saren’s name and his face even though there was no way for him to have known that apparently didn’t matter very much to the Council.”

“Is it normal for someone to know so very little about an individual like Saren, or to not even know that such a person exists?” Garrus wanted to know.

“For a farm world colonist, yes,” I explained, “Most of them aren’t concerned with anything beyond their own lives, and anything that doesn’t fit in is at the very least strange.” Garrus nodded as I keyed up a shuttle for us, then he punched in the code for it to take us up to the financial district on the Presidium. The shuttle took it’s time getting there, but it eventually showed up and we climbed in. “So, I talked to Executor Pallin earlier,” I said.

“What about?” Garrus asked cautiously.

“You,” I said, “Nothing bad. I just wanted to know if you were still working on the case against Saren. He said he told you the investigation was over. I’m just glad you didn’t quit.”

“I couldn’t quit,” he replied, “I know he’s up to something, he’s left too much of a trail for any of it to be just a coincidence. Shady business deals, blackmail, buying off Fist, the list is endless.”

“Don’t forget to add murder and attempted murder to that list,” I huffed, “Eden Prime was a nightmare.”

“Did you have family there?” Garrus asked quietly.

“Nah, most of my immediate family members are on starships,” I explained, “Then my oldest cousin works for C-Sec here on the Citadel and the three younger ones live with their parents on earth. But Saren’s geth still killed plenty of innocent civilians.”

“Well then, why is it so personal between you and Saren?” Garrus asked.

“His geth killed one of my marines,” I growled.

“You said his geth killed the marine. What’s making you go after him in particular?” Garrus prodded. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t really want to talk about Eden Prime, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell him about Nihlus or not. I hadn’t even told Ashley and Kaidan. “Why is my reason so important?” I finally asked.

“Because I heard about your argument with him during the Council hearing,” Garrus said, “Saren insulted you and you tore him a new one, as you humans say. Speaking of human phrases, what does that even mean? A new one of what?”

“Oh dear,” I started laughing, “I don’t think I could even begin to explain this so it will make sense. That one is worse than ‘son of a bitch’ and ‘mother hen.’ You’re not the first person to ask me something like this today.”

“I can see that,” Garrus smirked, “You still haven’t told me what Saren did to get you so pissed off.”

“And I’m not going to for a while, Garrus,” I sighed, “Look, I get that you’re trying to help and I appreciate it, but I can’t talk about it right now.” He gave me a long look, like he intended to read my mind, but I stonewalled him and he finally nodded. I could tell the discussion wasn’t over and that he was just letting me have my way for the moment; but I hoped he’d wait a while before bringing it up again. The rest of the ride was quiet, both of us being busy with our own thoughts.

We got to the transit hub and the shuttle stopped. We then climbed out and walked the last three blocks to Barla Von’s finance office. “What’s this?” he asked as we entered, then a smile came into his voice as he apparently recognized me, “One of the Earth-clan. Ah, a very famous one, yes? You are the one called Shepard. It is a great honor to welcome the hero of the Blitz.”

“Yes, and you must be Barla Von,” I smiled, “We haven’t formally met, but I’ve been told that you are an agent for the Shadow Broker and that you might have information about Saren.”

“Very astute, Commander,” Barla Von said, “I’m impressed. And you’re right; I am an agent for the Shadow Broker. And I do know something about Saren that may help you.”

“Any information you have could be very helpful to us right now,” I told him, “Could we possibly work out some sort of a deal?”

“This information is worth a small fortune, Commander,” Barla Von said, “But this is an unusual situation, and I am going to give it to you for free.” I was surprised, but grateful. I would have been willing to pay him whatever he asked, but if he was going to give me free information I wasn’t going to say no. “The Shadow Broker is very upset with Saren now,” he continued, “They once did a great deal of business. Until Saren turned on him.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Saren’s style,” I said, “He’d shoot anybody if he thought he’d get something out of it.”

“No matter what your opinion of Saren, he is not stupid,” Barla shook his head, “He knows the Shadow Broker is a valuable ally. Turning on him doesn’t make sense. None-the-less, something incredibly significant is at stake. I don’t know the details, but the Shadow Broker hired a freelancer to deal with the problem. A krogan mercenary named Urdnot Wrex.”

“We’re holding him at C-Sec,” Garrus said, sounding surprised, “Pallin had us bring him in because someone saw him making threats in Chora’s Den.”

“I would suggest speaking with him then,” Barla Von said.

“Hopefully he’ll talk to us,” I said, “Thank you, Barla Von, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you.”

“The pleasure is all mine, Commander,” he replied.

I smiled at him then turned to Garrus and asked, “Well, ready to go?”

“Yeah, Shepard,” he said.

“Thanks again,” I said to the volus, then Garrus and I left. We’d only been in the finance office about fifteen minutes, but we still had a thirty minute shuttle ride back to C-Sec. Garrus keyed one up and it wasn’t long before one stopped for us and we climbed in. The shuttle stopped on the way for two more passengers, then after that it took us straight to the academy. “Well, let’s go find our happy krogan,” I said to Garrus once we were out of the shuttle.

“Have you ever seen a happy krogan, Shepard?” Garrus asked, laughing at me a little.

“Yes I have actually,” I said, “That was an interesting experience.” Garrus just shook his head and laughed again as we walked into the reception area, which incidentally also seemed to double as the booking area. It didn’t take us long to find Wrex, who was surrounded by officers at the moment, and when I saw him I immediately recognized him as one of the Krogan I had seen in Chora’s Den when Kaidan, Ashley and I had gone in to talk to Harkin. “Witnesses saw you making threats in Fist’s bar,” the human officer told Wrex coldly, “Stay away from him.”

“I don’t take orders from you,” Wrex growled back.

“This is your only warning, Wrex,” the officer snapped.

“You should warn Fist,” Wrex said, “I will kill him.”

“Do you want me to arrest you?” the officer demanded.

“I want you to try,” Wrex laughed, crossing his arms over his chest and raising his head to look at the man from the corner of his eye. The officer had apparently had his fill of angry krogan for the day and waved him off. “Go on, get outta here,” the officer snapped as Wrex walked past him. Oddly enough Wrex didn’t react at all to this. Of course then he noticed Garrus and me standing there watching the whole thing and came stalking over to us. “Do I know you human?” he asked, looking hard into my face.

“My name is Shepard, I’m going after Fist,” I said, adding with a little bit of a grin, “Thought you might like to come along.”

“Hmm, Shepard. Commander Shepard,” Wrex said, making the connection as quickly as everyone else had today. Oh boy, here we go again. “I’ve heard a lot about you,” he continued, “We’re both warriors Shepard. Out of respect, I’ll give you fair warning. I’m going to kill Fist.”

“Fist knows you’re coming,” Garrus broke in calmly, “We’ll have a better chance if we all work together.” Wrex looked at Garrus then back to me for a second, then stepped over to stand directly in front of me. “My people have a saying,” he said, holding out his hand, “Seek the enemy of your enemy and you will find a friend.”

I smiled myself and met him halfway, shaking his offered hand as I said, “Glad to have you on the team, Wrex.”

“Let’s go,” Wrex nodded, “I’d hate to keep Fist waiting.” We took the shuttle down to the bar and I was again convinced the place was in the very bottom of the wards. I was also starting to feel like we were running out of time. It had been a little after noon when Fist’s thugs had threatened Dr. Michel. It was now about 1630 in the afternoon and we still hadn’t found the quarian. “Wrex, you look nervous,” Garrus observed as the big krogan shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I hate these things,” Wrex grunted.

“I don’t like them much either,” I told him, “But we’re short on time and this is the only way to get down here in less than three hours.”

“You’re human, these things were built with your skinny asses in mind,” Wrex grumbled.

“We could have taken the elevator and walked the rest of the way,” Garrus shrugged.

“I want to kill something,” Wrex muttered, shifting in his seat again.

“Where we’re going, there’s sure to be bad guys to kill,” I grinned at him, “Fist will definitely send his thugs out to meet us.” A few minutes later and we were finally there and we all climbed out and stretched. “I swear, every time I take that shuttle ride it feels like I’ve been folded for storage,” I groaned.

“It’s worse in a patrol shuttle,” Garrus informed me, “We get so many calls to come down here that the officers always draw to see who has to make the drive.”

“Fun,” Wrex said sarcastically.

“Well, are you two ready to go?” I asked them.

“You bet,” Wrex grinned. We left the shuttle bay and entered the front alley to find the lights either dimmed or turned out altogether. “Looks like it’s shut down,” Garrus said, readying his sniper rifle.

“Fist knows we’re coming, good,” Wrex chuckled, pulling out an assault rifle. I just motioned for quiet, not wanting to give our position away any sooner than necessary. I usually liked to do my killing from behind a curtain of shadow, and preferably a rock or a wall as well. Neither of those things would happen here though, so I was determined to have every other advantage I could get. I could hear a lot of moving around as we crept up to the door, tables being turned on their sides, slid across the floor to new places, chairs moved, that sort of thing. Since Garrus already had his sniper rifle out I signaled to Wrex that he and I would take point, then counted to three on my fingers, and we went in.

I glanced around, noticing that there were two guys on opposite sides of the door. Wrex and I killed them pretty much immediately, but there were others we couldn’t really get to. “Garrus, stripper platform, I’m pinned down over here,” I called back to him, having just barely seen the man before he forced me to duck behind the bar. The rifle detonated and the thug flew off the back side of the platform, shot between the eyes. I nodded my thanks and Garrus grinned back, nodding as well. “You go right Shepard, I’ve got the left side covered,” Wrex shouted with a crazy laugh from somewhere to the left and a little behind me. I decided he could take care of himself. I worked my way around from the other direction and carefully squeezed off my shots as targets presented themselves, while Garrus rained one shot death down on those whose shields were too strong for my pistol. It was quite amusing to see Wrex come flying around the corner and plow into the last man, whom I had just drilled through the eye too. “Not fair, Shepard,” Wrex hollered, popping up from behind the table, “That one was mine!”

“I can’t help it if you didn’t hit him fast enough,” I teased, hopping up and jogging over to him.

“Not fair,” Wrex maintained, but he laughed. We walked on through the door and came to a small storage area in the back, only to be confronted by two guys who looked about ready to wet themselves they were so scared. “S-stay back! Don’t come any closer or we’ll shoot,” the one to the right warned, his voice almost a squeak from fear.

“Warehouse workers,” Garrus said, “All the real guards must be dead.”

“This would be a good time to find somewhere else to work,” I told them, hoping they wouldn’t make us kill them.

“Y-yeah, you’re right,” the first one said, holstering his gun and walking out.

“Yeah, I never liked Fist anyway,” the other added, and he followed his partner.

“Would have been quicker to just kill them,” Wrex said with a shrug.

“Shooting people isn’t always the answer,” Garrus responded calmly. We continued on down a short hallway, where I noticed a locker set against the wall. I went up to it and scanned it with my omnitool, then as the parts of the code came through the tool I keyed them into the pad on the locker. Inside we found a couple of ammo upgrades and a new shotgun which I passed on to Wrex. We headed on into the back and came to Fist’s office. “Why do I always have to do everything myself?” I heard the man growl to himself. Then I heard a series of electronic clicks and instinctively shoved Garrus over behind the far wall, while Wrex pulled me backward behind the nearer one. Not too soon either, because Fist’s defense turrets immediately hosed the opening where we’d just been standing with high caliber rounds. “That was close,” Garrus said, giving his rifle a quick once-over just to be sure it wasn’t damaged.

“Too close,” I agreed, “Alright, one at a time, I’ll hit them with an overload and then we’ll finish them off.” They nodded, and I popped an overload charge on the nearest one. It stopped firing, its circuits temporarily unable to process any information and as soon as my overload recharged I hit the other one. The second blast, coupled with Wrex and Garrus filling them full of assault rifle rounds, finally fried the turrets and they exploded, the burned off wires sparking slightly. We cautiously stalked into the room where I found Fist crouched down hiding behind the sofa. “Wait, don’t kill me I surrender,” he yelped.

“Where’s the Quarian?” I demanded, tired of his games.

“She’s not here,” he sputtered, “I don’t know where she is, that’s the truth!”

“He’s no use to you now, let me kill him,” Wrex said, adjusting his grip on his shotgun.

“Wait, wait,” Fist said, his voice a pathetic whimper at this point, “I don’t know where the Quarian is, but I know where you can find her. She isn’t here, said she’d only deal with the Shadow Broker himself.”

“Face to face?” Wrex asked flatly, “That’s impossible. Even I was hired through an agent.” I was fully convinced Fist was only talking because he was hoping to save his sorry ass, but I lowered my gun and stepped back anyway. “Nobody meets the Shadow Broker,” Fist explained, “Even… even I don’t know his true identity. But she didn’t know that. I told her I would set the meeting up, but when she gets there, it’ll be Saren’s men waiting for her.”

“Give me the location, now!” I snapped, grabbing him and pinning him to the wall.

“Over in the back alley, behind the Renova markets,” Fist said, “She’s meeting them in two hours.”

“Renova?!” Garrus yelled in frustration, “That’s on Station C, it’s a two hour shuttle flight!”

“Then you’d better hurry,” Fist sneered at us. I punched him and turned, heading for the exit. Then Wrex’s shotgun went off. “Really Wrex?” Garrus snapped. I turned back around to see that Garrus had been sprayed with the blood that had blown back as a result of the shotgun blast. “The Shadow Broker paid me to kill him,” Wrex said, “I don’t leave jobs half done.” Suddenly the whole thing seemed utterly ridiculous to me, and I had a hard time not laughing at the two of them. Wrex was totally unruffled and Garrus was standing there with blood dripping off him looking as if he would like to physically strangle the krogan. “Focus you two,” I chuckled, “We only have two hours. Just, in the future wait for my signal to shoot someone Wrex.” He rolled his eyes, but nodded all the same, and I smiled, clapping him on the shoulder to let him know I was more amused than anything, and after a quick search of the place which turned up a few data discs and some armor and weapon upgrades, we made a mad dash for the shuttle bay. I started to punch in codes, but… “No!” I shouted, glaring at the console in helpless anger.

“What?” Wrex asked.

“No shuttles,” I said.

“Here, let me,” Garrus said, and I let him have the console as he explained, “I’ll be breaking the number one rule in the C-Sec officer’s handbook to do this, but I can get us a shuttle.” His hands flew over the keypad and we had a patrol shuttle in seconds and we climbed in. “Is it my imagination or is this damn thing smaller than the transport shuttles?” Wrex growled, shifting in the seat.

“I think it is,” I said flatly, “We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, let’s go.”

“I can get us there in an hour and a half, if you don’t mind breaking a few more rules,” Garrus said.

“I don’t care, Garrus, just do it,” I said. He nodded and punched the accelerator. The shuttle responded a lot faster than either Wrex or I had expected and we ended up pressed back in the seats for a couple seconds. Garrus turned on the siren as soon as we hit the main skyway, but it didn’t matter a whole lot, he had the thing going so fast that most of the other shuttles didn’t have time to move for us. “Garrus, if you kill us I’m going to kill you!” Wrex roared at him as we dodged in and out of the slower transports. Unfortunately for him, even without access to the throttle I was still trying to push the thing to go faster, and for whatever reason Garrus seemed to have decided that faster was a good idea. “Garrus, be careful,” I squeaked as we came up almost on the rear bumper of a huge cargo transport. He dodged the truck, barely, the shuttle completely on its side as we went flying past. “Just hold on, we’re almost there,” Garrus said, dodging a few more shuttles and making a hard right then a left down the turn-off to Station C, drifting the thing to a stop on the Renova shuttle bay. “Never,” Wrex gasped as we scrambled out of the patrol shuttle, “You are never driving me anywhere again, next time I’m walking!”

“Scream at Garrus later,” I panted, opening up my OT as I said, “We gotta go. Garrus, can you figure out this map please?” Garrus nodded and looked at the map I had in my omni-tool. “Alright this way,” he said, and Wrex and I followed him down behind the markets, the three of us dropping into a crouch as we heard voices. “Did you bring it?” a male turian voice asked as we got close enough to hear what was being said.

“Where’s the Shadow Broker? Where’s Fist?” a female voice I immediately recognized as quarian asked.

“They’ll be here, don’t worry,” the turian said, “Where’s the evidence?” I peeked around the corner to see the turian run his hand over the girl’s head and down toward her hips. “No way,” she said, slapping his hand away from her, “The deal’s off.” There were five salarians there as well, and when two of them started to move in the quarian flicked her wrist and dodged behind a box. There was an explosion, and the salarians and turian were knocked back, one salarian killed. I nodded to the guys. “Garrus, two right, 1 and 2 o’clock, H 5 and 6 feet, main landing,” I told him quietly and he nodded, then I looked to Wrex, “Two on the left are coming up here but the assassin’s still hiding.”

“I’ll get him,” Wrex said. I nodded and took out the salarians so he could get at the assassin. In a few seconds it was all over. “Fist set me up!” the quarian said indignantly, “I knew I couldn’t trust him.”

“You ok?” I asked her, ignoring Wrex and Garrus who were busily trying to decide who had killed the most enemies.

“I’m fine,” she said, “I know how to handle myself, not that I don’t appreciate your help. Who are you?”

“I’m Commander Shepard, that’s Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian,” I answered.

“My name is Tali, Tali’Zorah Nar Rayya,” she said, a smile in her voice, “I’m glad to meet you.”

“You too, Tali,” I grinned, “Listen, we’re looking for evidence that will help us prove Saren Arterius is a traitor.”

“Then I have a chance to repay you for helping me out,” she said, “But not here. We need to go someplace safe.”

“We could take her up to the Human Embassy office,” Garrus suggested, “You’re ambassador will want to see this anyway.”

“Yeah, he will,” I said, “Got the time Garrus?”

“0200, Shepard,” he said

“All night? Damn,” I sighed leaning against the wall, but on looking to my right I noticed a keeper and I walked over and scanned it. The guys looked at me like I was nuts. “Uh, Shepard? What are you doing?” Garrus wanted to know.

“Scanning keepers,” I said.

“Why?” Wrex asked.

“Because a salarian made a scanner that can actually get readings on these things and I figured it was worth it,” I explained, “Hm. ID #04, Registered Name: Sparky. Scans completed, credits transferred.”

“You’re getting paid to do that?” Wrex asked, looking over my shoulder.

“And they have names?” Garrus added in surprise.

“Yeah,” I said, “Anyway, shall we go everybody?”

“Can we please take the elevator?” Wrex groaned.

“What, don’t want another ride with Garrus?” I teased him. Wrex just glared at me. Garrus and I laughed a little and the four of us headed for the elevator. It took us a good three and a half hours to get to the Presidium. We had another two and a half hours before the Embassies opened for the day. “Well, we have two and a half hours to kill before we can go irritate Udina, anyone hungry?” I asked.

“I’m starving,” Wrex said, “Should have eaten the keeper.”

“Somehow I don’t think it would taste very good,” I giggled.

“Tali and I eat the same food, more or less,” Garrus said, “So, Tali, why don’t you come with me and we can go grab something. My treat.” Tali nodded. “Alright, guess it’s you and me Wrex,” I said, “Where do you want to meet back up at Garrus?”

“How about the park over there?” Garrus said.

“Sounds good,” I smiled, “meet you there whenever we get there.” They left and Wrex and I headed for a café. We got there and ordered our food, and I started checking my messages while we waited. Nihlus had messaged me twice, so I let him know what was going on and told him about Tali. I decided not to tell him I’d been up all night getting shot at though, that would just make him worry. “You alright Shepard?” Wrex asked, “You look like you could use some sleep.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, “Unfortunately I don’t get to sleep until we finish this thing. I have a feeling that the minute we turn in whatever evidence Tali has, Udina is going to get us another meeting with the Council.”

“Hey, I got your back,” Wrex said, “I’ll protect you if you fall asleep in a fight.”

“Pff. Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I laughed, playfully punching his shoulder. Kaidan and Ashley had both messaged me multiple times, wondering where I was. I replied to them and let them know I was fine, and after getting our food Wrex and I decided to eat in the park. We waited there until Tali and Garrus showed up. Another hour later the Embassies were open, so we walked across the park and went up to Udina’s office where we met Kaidan and Ashley outside the door and after explaining everything to them we all walked in.


	6. Chapter 6

Udina’s back was to us, but I could already tell he had his fingers on his forehead massaging his temples. “You’re not making my life easy, Shepard,” he growled at me, “Fire-fights in the wards? An all-out assault on Chora’s Den? Do you know how many—?” He turned and saw the rest of us standing there with Tali. “Who’s this? A quarian?” he asked suspiciously, “What are you up to Shepard?”

“Making your day, Ambassador,” I said quietly, “She has information that can help us link Saren to the Geth.”

“Really,” he said, still suspicious, then turned to Tali, “Maybe you’d better start at the beginning, Miss..?”

“My name is Tali, Tali’ Zorah Nar Rayya,” she answered him.

“We don’t see many quarians here,” Udina commented, “Why did you leave the Flotilla?”

“I was on my pilgrimage,” Tali explained, “My right of passage into adulthood.”

“I’ve never heard of this before,” I said, my curiosity sparked. Tali explained that it was tradition among her people for an individual who’d just reached maturity to leave their home behind and only return to their people when they’d found something of value, which in turn proved they were worthy of adulthood. “That’s interesting,” I told her, “What information did you find on Saren?”

“During my travels, I began hearing reports of geth. Since they drove my people into exile, they have never ventured beyond the Veil,” Tali explained, “I was curious. I tracked a patrol of geth to an uncharted world. I waited for one to become separated from its unit; then I disabled it, and removed its memory core.”

“I thought the geth fried their memory cores when they died,” Anderson said, “Some kind of defense mechanism.”

“My people built the geth,” Tali explained, “If you’re quick, careful, and lucky, small caches of data can sometimes be saved.”

“What did you find?” I asked, trying to keep the excitement out of my voice.

“Most of the core was wiped clean, but I managed to save something from its audio banks,” Tali said. She activated her omni-tool and touched a few keys, then it clicked and an audio clip played.

_“Eden Prime was a major victory. The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit.”_

It felt like Christmas, Hanukah and my birthday had all come early when Tali played that recording for us. I wanted to give her a huge hug. “That’s Saren’s voice!” Anderson exclaimed, “This proves he was involved in the attack!”

“He said Eden Prime brought him one closer to finding the Conduit,” I said quietly, “Anyone have any idea what that might mean?”

“The Conduit must have something to do with the beacon,” Anderson said as he started to pace, “Maybe it’s some kind of Prothean technology…like a weapon.”

“Wait, there’s more,” Tali said, “Saren wasn’t working alone.” She pushed a few more keys on her OT and the audio file started over again.

_“Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit.”_

_“And one step closer to the return of the Reapers.”_

“I don’t recognize that other voice,” Udina said, “The one talking about ‘Reapers.’” I didn’t know the female voice either, but I did feel like I should know what she meant by ‘Reapers.’ “I feel like I’ve heard that name somewhere before,” I said thoughtfully.

“According to the memory core, the Reapers were a hyper-advanced machine race which existed 50,000 years ago,” Tali said, “The Reapers hunted the Protheans to total extinction, and then they vanished. At least, that’s what the geth believe.”

“Sounds a little far-fetched,” Udina said, folding his arms over his chest.

“Actually, I don’t think so,” I said suddenly, “The vision from the beacon on Eden Prime… I think I understand it now, I saw the Protheans being wiped out by the Reapers.”

“The geth revere the Reapers as gods, the pinnacle of non-organic life,” Tali explained, “And they believe Saren is the prophet of their return.”

“Oh, the Council is just going to love this,” Udina grumbled with a roll of his eyes.

“But will they believe us?” I asked, “This is a lot to take in, and they might just ignore everything we tell them.”

“No matter what they think of the rest of this, those audio files prove Saren’s a traitor,” Anderson said, though I noticed he looked concerned as he looked at my face.

“The Captain’s right,” Udina said, “We need to present this to the Council right away.”

“What about her? The quarian?” Ashley asked, pointing to Tali.

“My name is Tali,” Tali responded, a little flatly, then she turned to me, “You saw me in the alley, Commander, you know what I can do.”

“What about your pilgrimage?” I asked her softly.

“The Pilgrimage proves we are willing to give of ourselves for the greater good,” Tali explained, “What does it say about me if I turn my back on this? Saren is a danger to the entire galaxy, Commander; my pilgrimage can wait.”

“Thanks Tali,” I said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, “I’ll take all the help I can get.”

“Thanks,” Tali said with a smile in her voice, “You won’t regret this.”

“Anderson and I will get things ready with the Council,” Udina said, “Shepard, you can meet us in the Tower in about four hours.”

“I’ll be along in a few minutes, Ambassador,” Anderson said, and Udina nodded and walked out. The Captain then gently took my arm and led me from the rest of the group so we could talk without interruptions. “When was the last time you slept, Girl?” Anderson asked me, guiding me to a chair which I promptly collapsed into, “You look terrible.”

“That’s not surprising,” I said, “I haven’t slept since the night before last, Captain. If I’d taken the time to sleep Tali would be dead and we’d still have no evidence. We’d be right back where we started from. I can handle the Council refusing me, but losing to Saren and ending up with another body was unacceptable.”

“He knew about her then,” Anderson said.

“Somehow, he did,” I confirmed, “I spent all night making sure his thugs died instead of her.”

“Well, you have four hours Marley, I’d like you to take the time to get some rest,” he said gently.

“I’m not complaining,” I chuckled, “Maybe when the trial is over I can take more than a silly power nap.”

“You’ve done a great job, Girl,” he smiled, “I know this hasn’t been easy, but you’ve made me proud.”

“Thanks, Captain,” I smiled, “That means a lot to me.”

“Here,” he said, handing me a hotel key card, “I took the liberty of getting rooms for you, Lt. Alenko and Chief Williams at the Presidium Inn.”

“Thanks,” I smiled, “I’m going to go take a good long-ass nap before I have to see the Council again and maybe I won’t piss them off this time.” He looked like he wanted to ask, but he only nodded as he went after Udina. I told my friends I was going, and Kaidan insisted on walking me to the hotel and then up to my room. I would have been fine on my own, but he didn’t agree, so I settled for chasing him away when we got there. I closed and locked the door then struggled out of my armor and crawled into bed. I was out the minute my head touched the pillow.

I woke up with an hour to spare before the meeting, so after brushing my teeth and a quick shower I dressed then went and grabbed a sandwich from the hotel cafeteria. I texted Nihlus a belated good morning and told him about the hearing. Then I messaged Ashley and Garrus, asking them to meet me at the park on the Presidium. Unsurprisingly, Kaiden, Wrex and Tali all showed up too, and we all ended up going to the tower together.

 

I woke at exactly 0830 and the first thing I did was open my omni-tool. Marley had only managed to get one message to me, but she did say that there should be enough evidence now to prove without any doubt that Saren was a traitor. I still felt like I should have been there for the first hearing. I wanted to see if Saren could really look me in the face and justify his actions. Although to be honest I wasn’t entirely sure what I would say to him. What can you say to someone who betrays you so completely that they even go so far as to try shooting you in the back? My thoughts were interrupted right then as Dr. Chakwas came in to check my bandages. Thankfully, she’d brought food with her as well. Of course she ordered me to eat, but I knew it was likely more out of habit than anything else, since she had to know I would.

I spent the next two hours after she left checking my OT every few minutes hoping Marley would have time to talk for a while. When she finally did send me a message I couldn’t sit still any longer. The Council had called another hearing and she had to be there for it because she’d been the one getting most of the evidence together. Unfortunately her involvement also might make my father reject whatever was brought forward, and if he did there was every chance that the others would agree. I had to be there. I got up and dressed, being careful not to pull any stitches, then I grabbed my jacket and left the Normandy. The shuttle ride took over an hour and by the time I got to the Council Chamber they had already started the hearing. I got there just in time to hear a recording play while I positioned myself behind and a little to the left of the group on the platform.

_“Eden Prime was a major victory! The beacon has brought us one step closer to finding the Conduit.”_

_“And one step closer to the return of the Reapers.”_

“You wanted proof,” the human ambassador said coldly, pointing an accusing finger toward the Council, “There it is.” That was Saren’s voice alright, there was no doubt about that. “This evidence is irrefutable, Ambassador,” my father said quietly, “Saren will be stripped of his Spectre status, and all efforts will be made to bring him in to answer for his crimes.”

“I recognize the other voice,” Councilor Tevos said, looking at my father for a moment before continuing, “Matriarch Benezia.”

“Who is she?” Marley asked.

“Matriarchs are powerful asari who have entered the final stage of their lives,” Tevos explained, “Revered for their wisdom and experience, they serve as guides and mentors to my people. Matriarch Benezia is a powerful biotic, and she had many followers. She will make a formidable ally for Saren.”

“I’m more interested in the Reapers,” Councilor Valern said, “What do you know about them?”

“Only what was extracted from the Geth’s memory core,” Anderson shrugged, “The Reapers were an ancient race of sentient machines that wiped out the Protheans and then vanished.”

“The geth believe the Reapers are gods, and that Saren is the prophet of their return,” Marley added.

“We think the Conduit is the key to bringing them back,” Anderson said, “Saren is searching for it, that’s why he attacked Eden Prime.”

“Do we even know what this ‘Conduit’ is?” Councilor Valern asked curiously.

“Saren thinks it can bring back the Reapers, that’s bad enough,” Anderson replied.

“Listen to what you’re saying,” my father protested with a shake of his head, “Saren wants to bring back the machines that wiped out all life in the galaxy? Impossible! It has to be! Where did the Reapers go? Why did they vanish? Why have we found no trace of their existence? If they were real we’d have found something!”

“I tried to warn you about Saren and you refused to see the truth,” Marley replied, “Don’t make the same mistake again.”

“This is different,” Councilor Tevos sighed, “You’ve proved Saren betrayed the Council, we all agree that he’s using the geth to search for the Conduit, but we don’t really know why.”

“The Reapers are obviously just a myth, Commander,” Councilor Valern concluded, “A convenient lie to cover up Saren’s true purpose, a legend he is using to bend the geth to his will.” It wasn’t difficult at all to imagine Saren doing such a thing, but if that were the case I doubted Marley would have been so convinced that the Reapers were real. “50,000 years ago the Reapers wiped out all civilization,” she told them, “If Saren finds the Conduit, it will happen again.”

“Saren is a rogue agent on the run for his life,” my father reasoned, “He no longer has the rights or resources of a Spectre, the council has stripped him of his position.” That was true, but it wouldn’t stop Saren. He apparently didn’t know I’d survived yet, but it wouldn’t take him long to find out, and when he did he’d be after Marley and me both. “That is not good enough!” the human ambassador, Udina, shouted, interrupting my thoughts, “You know he’s hiding somewhere in the Traverse, send your fleet in!”

“Ambassador, that is not a good idea,” Marley cautioned him.

“A fleet cannot track down one man, Ambassador,” Councilor Valern said, sounding mildly annoyed.

“A Citadel fleet could secure the entire region,” Udina retorted, “Keep the Geth from attacking anymore of our colonies!”

“Or it could trigger a war with the Terminus Systems!” my father shot back, “We won’t be dragged into a galactic confrontation over a few dozen human colonies!” I thought he could have chosen a better way to word that, but my father had always been more of a soldier than a politician and I understood what he meant. The cost of lives and ships in such a conflict would cripple every fleet in the galaxy and render nearly every system defenseless. “I can take Saren down,” Marley told them.

“The Commander is right,” Councilor Tevos said, “There is a way to stop Saren, one that doesn’t require fleets or armies.”

“No!” my father spat, “It’s too soon; Humanity is not ready for the responsibilities that come with joining the Spectres!” Now this I had expected, he’d been upset with me from the moment I suggested she would make a good Spectre and he evidently hadn’t gotten over it yet. “You don’t have to send a fleet into the Traverse, and the human ambassador gets his human Spectre,” I said as I stepped forward, “It is the best solution for everyone.” Marley, Udina, Anderson and the councilors all looked absolutely shocked to see me, and Tevos and Valern both took a step back. “We were led to believe that you were dead,” my father growled at me before turning a furious glare on Marley. Well, that explained the councilors’ reactions.

“I did nothing of the kind, I merely left some details out of my report,” Marley told him, “Udina’s assumptions did the rest.”

“And just when were you planning to tell us the truth?” my father demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I had planned to tell you at the first meeting,” she replied.

“I assume you have a good reason for why you said nothing, Commander,” he growled back.

“Saren was in on the hearing,” she answered quietly, “He tried to obliterate the colony on Eden Prime to cover up what he did and he would have tried to do the same thing to my ship. It was safer for everyone that he didn’t know Nihlus was still alive.” My father was almost angry enough at her to explode at this point. I suspected however that it was mainly due to the fact that he knew she was right even though she’d broken regulations. “And I suppose you’re still completely convinced that she’s the best choice for this job?” he grumbled, turning back to glare at me.

“Yes, sir,” I told him, “I know she is.” It certainly wasn’t what he’d wanted to hear, but all he got out of Councilor Valern was a slight nod. He turned to Councilor Tevos, but her response was a nod as well, with the added quality of being accompanied by an embarrassing smile. I would probably never get used to them and their affair. To make matters more awkward I could see from the smirk on her face that Marley had noticed as well. My father tried to stall, but he was out voted by the other councilors and he eventually gave a grudging nod of his own. “Commander Shepard—step forward,” Councilor Tevos said quietly. Marley looked at Anderson and then me, and I couldn’t help the slight smile as I nodded to her. She closed her eyes for a moment then did as Tevos had instructed. “It is the decision of this Council that you be granted the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance branch of the Citadel forces,” Tevos began.

“Spectres are not trained, but chosen; individuals forged in the fire of service, and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank and file,” Valern continued.

“Spectres are an ideal, a symbol, the embodiment of courage, determination, and self reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will,” Tevos followed.

“Spectres bear a great burden; they are predecessors of galactic peace, both our first, and last line of defense. The safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold,” my father spoke, his gaze still fixed on Marley’s face with an expression I couldn’t read.

“You are the first human Spectre, Commander,” Tevos finished, “This is a great accomplishment, for you and your entire species.”

“Thank you, Councilors,” Marley said softly, bowing her head in respect to the three of them, “I’m honored.”

“We’re sending you into the Traverse after Saren,” Tevos said, “He’s a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means to apprehend, or eliminate him.”

“I’ll find him,” Marley said.

“This meeting of the Council is adjourned,” Tevos said. My father gave me a long, hard look before he and the other councilors left. From the way he looked at me I had a feeling that he might have guessed there was something going on between Marley and myself. I also knew he wouldn’t be pleased and he would probably be sending me a message soon demanding an explanation. “Congratulations, Commander,” Captain Anderson said, shaking her hand, then he turned to me. “I don’t know how you convinced Dr. Chakwas to let you out of her sight,” he said with an amused smile as he shook my hand as well, “But thank you for being here.”

“There was no convincing,” I told him, “She had no idea I was leaving the Normandy.”

“Dr. Chakwas will not be pleased,” Marley laughed.

“I think she will understand,” I smiled, “I wanted to be here anyway. I couldn’t just let them refuse you.”

“Yes, well, now that they’ve accepted you we’ve got a lot of work to do, Shepard,” Udina told her, “You’re going to need a ship, crew, supplies…”

“You’ll have access to special equipment and training now, above and beyond your N7 assets,” Anderson explained, “You should go down to the C-Sec Academy and speak to the Spectre requisitions officer.”

“Thanks, Captain,” she said with a smile.

“Anderson, come with me,” Udina said abruptly, “I’ll need your help to set all this up.”

“I’ll contact you when everything is ready,” Anderson told Marley before following Udina down to the transport hub.


	7. Chapter 7

“Alright, time for introductions,” Marley said once the captain had gone, “I would like you all to meet Nihlus Kryik. Nihlus, meet Urdnot Wrex, Garrus Vakarian and Tali’Zorah Nar Rayya. And of course you already know Lt. Alenko and Chief Williams.” Wrex just nodded, but Vakarian and Tali’Zorah each shook my hand.

“Nihlus, it’s good to see you’re still here,” Alenko said.

“It’s good to be here, Lieutenant,” I replied.

“Are you sure you never put anything in your report about him dying?” Williams asked the question I knew everyone else had been thinking.

“I swear, all I did was leave a few details out of my report,” Marley smiled, “Udina was the one who assumed Nihlus was dead, and he’s also probably the one who convinced the Council.”

“You could have lost your career,” Williams said in disbelief.

“I know,” Marley replied, “But my career could be replaced, theoretically even the ship could. But Nihlus and the Normandy’s crew? Not so much.”

“Yeah, you’re right, Commander,” Williams said after she thought about it for a moment, “Is there anything else you need us to do today?”

“Nope, consider yourselves off duty, chief,” Marley grinned, “Go have some fun.”

“Are you still going to hide on the ship from us?” Williams asked with a slightly teasing tone.

“That depends on Nihlus,” Marley laughed, then looking up at me she asked, “Is Chakwas going to call you or me and demand that you go back to her infirmary?”

“Possibly,” I said.

“Well we should probably go see her anyway, just to be sure,” Marley said.

“He’s a turian, not an injured puppy,” Williams protested.

“Puppies generally don’t get shot by people who are supposed to like them either,” Marley said, “Relax, Ash. I’d do the same thing to you or Alenko.”

“I hear you, Commander. It’s just strange is all,” Williams said, “Aren’t you even a little bit concerned that people will start to talk?”

“No matter what you do, people will always talk,” Marley said crossing her arms, “I’m no stranger to silly rumors, hell, one or two have even been true. I’m just not going to get all bent out of shape because some idiot can’t keep his mouth shut about things he doesn’t know anything about.”

“What are you going to do if the Council hears something they don’t like?” Williams persisted.

“Then they are more than welcome to complain to me about it personally,” Marley said, this time with a smirk, “I guarantee they will only do it once.”

“Marley, I would consider it a personal favor if you don’t say what you’re thinking right now,” I told her.

“Well that’s really awkward,” Williams said, looking a bit flustered, “I’m just going to go… My OT is on if you need anything, Skipper.” With that she turned away and headed for the transit hub.

“I think I’ll be going as well, I just found out this morning that an old buddy of mine is here on shore leave and I’d like to catch up with him before we ship out,” Alenko said.

“See you later L-T,” Marley said, “I’ll contact you when Anderson puts us back on duty.”

“I’ll see you on your ship, Shepard,” Wrex said, following the lieutenant.

“I should be going as well,” Vakarian stated, “I still have to give Executor Pallin my resignation and let Chellick and Sanders know I’m leaving.”

“I’ll go with you if that’s alright,” Tali’Zorah said, “I have to go through customs anyway, I might as well get it overwith.”

“Hey, Garrus, if that’s Tylee Sanders you’re talking about, tell her I said don’t be a stranger,” Marley grinned.

“Sure, Shepard,” he said.

“It was nice meeting you,” Tali said to me with a smile in her voice.

“Likewise, Tali’Zorah,” I answered. She and Vakarian waved and headed off down the stairs to the transit hub.

“We should probably go too,” I said, “Your ship’s doctor will want an update, and I would rather not speak with Councilor Kryik right now.”

“Is he your brother or something?” Marley asked as we headed for the transit hub.

“He is my father,” I told her quietly.

“I had no idea,” she said, “I thought you might have been related, but I had guessed brother or close cousin.”

“That is my fault, I usually avoid saying anything as long as possible,” I said, “Even so there is still some debate going on as to why I was chosen to be a Spectre in the first place.”

“That’s not fair, you’re the best there is,” she protested, then changing the subject she asked, “Will you be going with us?”

“I don’t know,” I told her, “I’m going to request the assignment, but the Council will still make the final decision.”

“What about your father? Wouldn’t he understand why you might want to go after Saren?” she asked.

“Yes, but I think he’s also guessed that you and I are not just soldiers or even just friends,” I explained, “He will be uncomfortable with us being on the same assignment at least.”

“It probably didn’t help that I didn’t tell anyone but Anderson that you were still alive,” she said.

“It is difficult to say whether that helped or not,” I replied, “On one hand if he could manage to understand our relationship to begin with, I believe he would understand why you did it. On the other hand, you broke regulations and that is going to irritate him.”

“That irritates everybody,” she laughed, “I’m still really not sure how I managed to avoid getting kicked out of the marines.”

“The Alliance knows that if it had been anyone else in command they would probably have lost Elysium,” I told her. I could see she wanted to argue that point, but she didn’t get the chance to respond. Just then we overheard an Alliance soldier speaking to someone through a comm. and sounding very frustrated. “Congratulations on becoming the first human Spectre, Commander,” he said, offering his hand to her as we approached, “I’m certain you’ll be up to the challenge.”

“I appreciate that, sir,” she replied, shaking his hand.

“My name is Admiral Kahoku,” he informed her, “It’s about time the Alliance got one of our own in with the Spectres. We need people like you to deal with our… problems.”

“Is something wrong, Admiral?” she asked quietly. She was clearly having second thoughts about this conversation, but Marley’s personal honor code dictated that she not brush the man off.

“I’m getting stonewalled by bureaucratic assholes,” Admiral Kahoku growled, “Nothing new. Maybe you can help me, Shepard. One of my recon teams was investigating some strange activity out in the Traverse. We lost contact yesterday. Now I can’t get clearance to check it out; suddenly it’s a restricted area. But that doesn’t apply to you, Shepard. Spectres can go anywhere they want. You could find out why my team dropped out of contact.”

“I’ll find them, Admiral,” she promised.

“I appreciate that, Commander,” he said, “I was running out of options. I’m going to stay here and see if I can find anything out through official channels. Won’t hold my breath though. I’ll upload the info on where my team was last seen to your ship. Maybe you can get some answers.”

“I hope whatever information I find will be of some help,” she said.

“Thank you, Commander,” he said, and we headed for the elevator. We were almost to the elevator when another conversation, this time with a diplomatic assistant, landed her a second errand in the Traverse. Still, I couldn’t help smiling a little. There was just something about Marley Shepard that could make even the most stubborn person tell her what was going wrong for them. And somehow she almost always managed to find a way to fix it. “What?” she asked with a grin as we finally stepped into the elevator.

“You,” I smiled back, “I do believe you could get the whole universe to tell you all of its problems, and you could probably make most of them go away all by yourself if everyone would listen to you.”

“Maybe, but that was the last freebie for the day,” she laughed, “The universe can take care of itself for a few hours.” Then her omni-tool went off. She checked the ID before answering, then relaxed when she saw that it was Dr. Chakwas. “Hey, Doc,” she said with a smile.

“Is Nihlus with you, Commander?” Dr. Chakwas asked. She didn’t sound pleased.

“Yes, he is,” Marley laughed, “Don’t worry, he’s fine. I assume you’d like us back on the ship?”

“No, you don’t need to come back so soon,” Dr. Chakwas relented, “Just let me know if he ends up staying with you, I’ll want to check his bandages later tonight.”

“Will you be staying on the station tonight?” Marley asked, turning to look at me.

“I had planned on it,” I replied. I knew I probably shouldn’t be so open about this, but I wanted at least one night with her before she had to leave.

“Make that a yes then, Doc,” Marley smiled.

“No strenuous activities,” Dr. Chakwas ordered sternly.

“I promise,” Marley chuckled, “I’m staying at the Presidium Inn, 4th floor, the room number is 432. I’ll let you know if he gets his own room.” They hung up and Marley smiled in amusement before laying her head on my shoulder.

“Did you tell Dr. Chakwas about us then?” I asked.

“She figured it out herself,” Marley said with a smirk, “Apparently you talk when you’re drugged.”

“Oh great,” I couldn’t help grumbling.

“It’s not as bad as you’d think,” Marley laughed as the elevator came to a stop and we exited to head down the street, “It didn’t seem to bother her at least. So, we have the whole afternoon, what’s left of it anyway. What do you want to do?”

“I just want you all to myself for a while,” I said.

“Well I have an idea then,” she smiled, “Let’s just go back to my room and be lazy for the rest of the day and anyone who wants to talk to either of us can wait until tomorrow.”

“Now that is the best plan I’ve heard all day,” I smiled back.


End file.
